


Episode 2-03 - "The Measure of a Life"

by stgjr



Series: Undiscovered Frontier Season 2 - "Whispers of Destiny" [3]
Category: BattleTech: MechWarrior, Original Work
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse, Space Opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 08:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11032101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: The peace of the Inner Sphere is in Leo's hands when he is asked to save the life of a terminally-ill prince.





	1. Chapter 1

**Teaser**  
  
_Ship's Log: ASV Aurora; 11 March 2642. Captain Robert Dale recording. The_ Aurora _has been dispatched to support diplomatic contact missions in Universe F1S1. President Morgan and the Cabinet are hopeful that we can gain new allies since the Klingons have withdrawn from the war._  
  
  
A warm breakfast in the Lookout was always a welcome start to Robert's day. Hargert had set out breakfast sausages, eggs, and toast, and they all tasted delicious. He happily chowed down on them between glances at his digital reader.  
  
Across from him, Angel was eating just as well. They exchanged knowing grins while Angel's foot rubbed up against his shins under the table.  
  
"Is that supposed to mean something?", he asked her after swallowing. "This whole playing footsies thing?"  
  
She maneuvered some sausage and egg on her plate with her fork. "I'm just enjoying toying with you."  
  
"As if last night wasn't enough…" He ventured.  
  
The smile was the most seductive Angel would ever put on for him. "Well, to be accurate, last night you were toying with me." The smile turned into a slight smirk. "There are advantages to that stuff Meridina is teaching you after all."  
  
Warmth moved into Robert's cheeks. Angel's response was a pleased laugh. "It's fun. Making you blush."  
  
"Well, so long as we're having fun." Robert took in another bite and glanced back to his reader.  
  
"So. I haven't heard much about this universe. I mean, there's that colony we set up for some of the refugees and survivors from S4W8…" She finished working with her food and lifted a fork-full of egg and sausage toward her mouth. "What's the briefing say about this place?"  
  
Robert swallowed. "Space-faring Humanity, no known alien species yet. Or at least no known sentient alien species. Apparently we're in the next millennium with these people. The mid-31st Century."  
  
Angel kept chewing and nodded.  
  
"Still, their advancement technologically is uneven. We have some advantages according to preliminary reports from our first contact missions. Better medical technology, faster computers, more robust power transfer systems. Some other things that aren't immediately relevant to our mission. Representative Willoughby will be doing most of the talking, we're here to back him up and give him something to show."  
  
"So that's why we haven't even had a staff briefing about this?", Angel asked. "Because usually there is one."  
  
"Well, it was a last minute sort of thing, we weren't supposed to arrive until tomorrow so that today's meeting would give everyone plenty of time to digest the information. Instead we'll be arriving there in an hour or so, and with everyone's schedules set for the day…" Robert shrugged. "I figured we might as well get our briefing directly from Emissary Willoughby."  
  
Angel swallowed her food. "Well, it's not getting shot at by Nazis, so it works."  
  
Robert smirked at that and nodded. "So…" He slid his fork around what was left of the eggs. "How's Cat?"  
  
"Leo gave her a clean bill of health yesterday." Angel's mood was distinctly pleased over that. "The nerve damage wasn't permanent and is clearing up quickly."  
  
"Great news."  
  
"It is." Angel nodded. "So… after you get done with this first meeting…?"  
  
"Meridina's practice sessions," he answered.  
  
Angel's face fell. "Right."  
  
"So to save time…" Robert took a quick bite, chewed it for a moment, and swallowed. "...let's just say we had our usual discussion about my… abilities, and the training?"  
  
"Sure." Angel shook her head. "I'm trying, Robert. Honest to God, I am trying. It's just…"  
  
"We've gone over that." Robert sighed and put his fork down. He reached across the table and took her hand. "I'm committed to making this all work, Angela. You and me. This training. This job. All of it."  
  
"I know." She forced a smile to her face. "And that's why I'm able to put up with it."  
  
"It's all I can ask you to."  
  
Angel nodded. "So… anything else about these people?"  
  
"Well…" He checked the time. "...you'll find out in about an hour." He pushed the mostly-finished plate away and scooped up the reader. "I'll be on the bridge."  
  
"See you there," Angel pledged.  
  
  
  
  
The medbay was the usual low hubbub of activity. A couple of Dorei were being treated across the room, an engineer had a nasty bump on the head, and Leo was fidgeting with a very uncooperative engineer.  
  
"Dude, this really isn't necessary," Barnes protested. "Opani did a physical on me last year."  
  
"So I read," Leo said, checking a scan result. "But the physicals are twice a year. And the medical regs are clear, first physical of the year has to be done by the end of March."  
  
"That sounds dumb."  
  
"With everything that can happen… it's not as dumb as you think." Leo shook his head. "Is there something in the water? I get this same attitude from almost all of you when it comes to your medical checkups and physicals."  
  
"Maybe we just don't want to spent the time when we've got so much else to do?", Barnes proposed.  
  
"So you don't want to spend time with me?" Leo put a hand on his heart. "Oh, stone cold, Tom. That's a dagger in the heart right there."  
  
"Oh, come on, you know what I mean." Barnes crossed his arms. "It's one thing to hang out with you, it's another to be in here and it being all business and…"  
  
Leo quietly sighed as Barnes kept going on. He was in better shape than Leo had expected. Leo noted the various little things - a change in his diet might be necessary to get his weight up - and put them all into the final physical report.  
  
"...I get it man," Barnes continued. "I mean, you're a doctor, a great one, and you like doing the job. But you get so damn bossy about it sometimes. You and Julia. She's always nosing in too, acting like my mother sometimes…"  
  
"Julia is a mother hen by nature," Leo stated.  
  
"She likes to boss people around, that's what it is," Barnes insisted.  
  
"I won't argue with that." Leo reached for a nearby dispenser and put on some rubbed gloves. "So now we're on to the awkward part."  
  
"What do you…. oh. _Oh._ " Barnes frowned. "Seriously man?"  
  
"It's part of the physical."  
  
"But scans…"  
  
"...can't beat physical inspections." Leo snapped the gloves on. "Okay, ready?"  
  
"I have to turn my head and cough, right?"  
  
"Yep." Leo flashed him a grin. "Do you want me to call Doctor Opani? Then it's a lady handling those bits."  
  
"No. Just get it over with."  
  
"Sure, here we go…"  
  
  
  
The crew were in place on the bridge when Locarno began counting down to arrival. "Another new group of Human societies," Julia leaned back in her chair. "So we're not the lead on the diplomatic angle?"  
  
"No. We're here to show the flag. Give the locals something to show them what we're made of, I guess." Robert tapped a key on his chair. "Mister Scott, I hate to impose, but we might have guests. How does Engineering look?"  
  
" _Like she should, sir. Like she should. Ah'll get th' lads and lasses on t' polishin' an' cleanin' t' make sure._ "  
  
"Thank you. Bridge out."  
  
"We are dropping out of warp in five… four…"  
  
The _Aurora_ glided out of warp right on course. The orbital space ahead of them had a few ships milling in orbit and at least one space station of sorts. The planet was a garden world, completely Earth-like, with four continents and three major metropolises.  
  
"Put me on, Jarod." When Jarod's console let out the warbling tone of an open communication channel being established, Robert spoke. "This is Captain Robert Dale of the Alliance _Starship Aurora_ to orbital traffic control. We're requesting a geosynchronous orbit over the capital, if it can be provided."  
  
A few moments later, a voice replied in a prim English-sounding accent. "Starship Aurora, _this is traffic control. We have you cleared. Proceed to orbital point of 30 kilometers over our signal._ "  
  
"Roger that." Robert nodded to Nick.  
  
" _We have you moving into position, Captain. Thank you._ The voice stopped momentarily until it gave a final remark. " _On behalf of House Davion and the Federated Commonwealth, welcome to New Avalon._ "  
  
  


**Undiscovered Frontier  
_"The Measure of a Life"_**

 

 

Emissary Algernon Willoughby fit the stereotype of the fussy, stiff-upper-lip British professional. His balding crown of graying brown hair, perpetually-squinted dark eyes, and a gaunt build and expression gave him a severe look.  
  
He stepped off of the transporter platform and accepted Robert's hand. "Captain Dale." He accepted Julia's next. "Commander Andreys. Thank you for your prompt response."  
  
"We accelerated as soon as we got the message," Robert replied. "Of course, I'll have to brief my officers now instead of this evening as I planned."  
  
"I shall handle the briefing, Captain. While I trust you have studied my reports, it might be best if I present the facts."  
  
"I'll be glad to have your experience leading the briefing, sir." Robert gestured toward the door. "My staff is waiting for us to begin the briefing."

 

 

 

The conference room off the bridge was selected for the presentation. The command officers of the _Aurora_ and _Koenig_ were in mutual attendance, some conversing quietly as everyone found their places. "Everyone, this is Algernon Willoughsby. He's out first contact liaison with the government of the Federated Commonwealth and our diplomatic representative here until we formally exchange ambassadors." He nodded to Willoughsby and sat down.  
  
Willoughsby activated the conference room holotank. It generated a starmap with the central point listed as "Earth". "Ah, yes. The Captain informs me you have not been briefed. So let me give you the pertinent information you need to have immediately. F1S1's Human civilizations are primarily settled within a 200 light year radius of Earth in this disc-shaped region they call 'the Inner Sphere'."  
  
"Someone needs to teach the locals geometry," Barnes muttered.  
  
That won him a stern look from Julia, who cleared her throat. Willoughsby was obviously annoyed, and just as obviously determined to hide the fact he was annoyed. "Politically they are divided into a handful of states organized upon what we are calling 'neo-feudalist' lines."  
  
"Feudalist." Zack crossed his arms. "As in medieval Europe stuff with land grants in exchange for military service?" He looked to Jarod, who seemed bemused. "Yes, I paid attention in World History class," he added.  
  
Willoughsby nodded. "Exactly. The Inner Sphere's societies each have a sort of feudalistic system with grants of land or wealth and titles for service. Local government can vary, and in some cases is little different from the town and city-level governments seen in the Allied Systems. But on the larger level, planets and regions are ruled by the nobility who swear fealty to higher lords. At the top of this pyramid are the Lords of the five Great Houses, each of which ruling a great power state by local reckoning. There used to be a sixth House, whom ruled Earth and its associated Terran Hegemony, but that House was exterminated nearly three hundred years ago. The Hegemony collapsed and was divided among the five surviving Houses." Willoughby's operation of the tank showed political divisions of the Inner Sphere. "This era also saw the collapse of what was called the Star League, a unified government of all of the Inner Sphere and Near Periphery star nations under the control of the Hegemony's ruling House, the Camerons."  
  
The map clearly showed that one of the groupings held the most territory, occupying both the "southeast" and "northwest" sections of the disc. Seeing this, Jarod said, "Two of these Houses are merged now."  
  
There was a show of annoyance on WIlloughby's face. "Yes, Commander. I was just getting to that." He cleared his throat and indicated the "southeast" portion of the map. "Five Houses, five powers. House Davion of the Federated Suns, House Liao of the Capellan Confederation, House Marik of the Free Worlds League, House Steiner of the Lyran Commonwealth, and House Kurita of the Draconis Combine." One by one he went clockwise around the map. "As you may note, Davion and Steiner have undergone a dynastic merger and formed the Federated Commonwealth."  
  
"And those small nations…?", Caterina asked. "Like that little one between Davion and Liao, or the one up there between…"  
  
"There are indeed two minor nations in existence besides the Houses. The St. Ives Compact is ruled by a member of House Liao who broke from her family and sided with the Davions. The Free Rasalhague Republic broke away from the Draconis Combine in the last generation after centuries of occupation and repression." Willoughby tapped the map. "Earth itself is under the control of an organization devoted to maintaining interstellar communications. They are called ComStar. If you wish to learn more about them, I have loaded information on the Inner Sphere into the ship's computers. As it stands, I wish to end this briefing soon so as to get to the point of your hastened arrival."  
  
"Of course," Robert answered.  
  
"I have spent the last several days setting the stage for your visit to New Avalon," Willoughby explained. "And I have done so at the explicit request of the ruler of the Federated Commonwealth, Archon-Prince Victor Steiner-Davion."  
  
"That's a mouthful," Barnes muttered.  
  
Julia shot him a look.  
  
Willoughby again ignored him contemptuously. "It was His Highness that requested your arrival be expedited."  
  
Robert's interest was piqued. "Do you know why?"  
  
"I am afraid not." The admission clearly rankled. "This is a matter His Highness has been keeping to himself and his advisors. I did discuss the issue with Admiral Maran and he has stated confidence in your ability to provide whatever assistance is required."  
  
"We'll do what we can," Julia promised.  
  
"It will most likely involve a demonstration of our technology. The better the demonstration, the more likely we are to win Commonwealth support in the war effort." Willoughby turned off the holotank. "While their naval capabilities leave a lot to be desired, the Houses all field large armies that would be of use in holding Reich forces in check during planetary campaigns. They make use of these large armored walkers… ah, you shall see, but I'm afraid I must keep going. It is hoped we might persuade some of the Houses to side with us in exchange for technological assistance."  
  
"We'll do what we can," Robert assured him. "But it might help to know what he expects."  
  
"It may be medical," Willoughby admitted. He looked to Leo. "I've been asked to bring a medical officer back down with me."  
  
"I'll be happy to help," Leo answered.  
  
"Ah. Splendid." Willoughby checked his time piece. "Captain, if you and Doctor Gillam would accompany me?"  
  
"We're expected?", Robert inquired. " _Now_?"  
  
"Yes, we are."  
  
That made him scramble to think of the team layout. "Alright. I'll be down shortly with Doctor Gilliam and Commander Meridina." He looked to the others. "This briefing is adjourned."  
  
As soon as they stood up, Julia looked to Barnes with a frown. He noticed it and a sullen look came over his face. He knew he was in for another lecture.  
  
Rounding the head of the table, Scotty stepped up beside Julia. "Allow me, lass. I'll straighten him out for ye."  
  
Julia nodded. "He's your subordinate, Mister Scott. And thank you."  
  
"Isnae easy, is it?", the old engineer asked. "Bein' in charge of friends like this."  
  
"I'm okay with being in charge," Julia answered. She turned her head and faced him with a sad expression. "But I know it puts a strain on our old friendships whenever I have to put my foot down."  
  
"Like I said. I'll get Tom's head on straight. Lad's still got some growin' up t' do." Scotty continued on.  
  
"Don't we all," Julia sighed.

 

 

Robert quickly stopped by his quarters to change into his formal dress uniform. It was not something he enjoyed, and it seemed a time-honored complaint of everyone in any service to have to put up with the uniforms.  
  
He could at least be proud in how quickly he put the thing on, golden tassel epaulets and all.  
  
Willoughby was waiting for him outside of his quarters, at his request. "You wanted to see me, Captain?"  
  
"Yes." Robert began walking toward the nearest transporter station. He brought up his arm and activated his multi-device, calling up the holographic map of the Inner Sphere. "So you said five houses, two of them having merged, and two minor states in the Inner Sphere."  
  
"I did."  
  
Robert pointed to the "north" part of the map. "Then what is this?"  
  
The northern part of the Inner Sphere included four wedge-shaped regions between the Lyrans and Draconians… Draconese? _Whatever you call people from the Combine_ , Robert thought. "Who are they?", Robert asked. "Because four buffer states is a bit much."  
  
Willoughby frowned. "That's a delicate matter, Captain. It involves the Inner Sphere's security and the complicated situation between the Houses."  
  
"I'm listening." Robert lowered his arm, disengaging the holographic projection in the process.'  
  
"The Inner Sphere knows them as the Clans," Willoughby explained. "They invaded at the beginning of this decade from somewhere toward the Galactic Core."  
  
"Humans too?"  
  
"Yes." Willoughby nodded. "It has been discovered that they are the descendants of the old Star League Defense Force, the main armed forces of the Star League before its collapse. A charismatic commander in charge of this army, one Aleksandr Kerensky, persuaded most of those still in it, as well as their families, to depart the Inner Sphere with him when it became clear that the Great Houses were going to wage war over the leadership of the broken League. Apparently his successors underwent a radical social transformation and have become committed to the conquest of their ancestors' homeworlds." Willoughby's tone and feelings on the matter made Robert ponder that he was understating what the Clans were, in the true fashion of a British understatement.  
  
"Your information includes a write-up on them, right?"  
  
"What I could find out, yes. His Highness has been forthcoming about the Clan threat. He fought their invasion from the frontlines and is concerned about the threat they might pose."  
  
"But it's not what he wants to see us about?"  
  
"I am quite certain it is not."  
  
Willoughby finished his sentence as they stepped into the transporter station. Leo and Meridina were already waiting and uniformed. As always, Meridina carried her _lakesh_. "We are ready to transport, sir," a young man at the controls stated.  
  
"Good. Let's get down there and find out what this is about."

 

 

 

The four materialized in a large hanger. Robert's immediate thought was that it housed large shuttles or aircraft. But as he took in the honor guard of men in formal uniform with rifles at parade rest, it was the sight behind them that was the most interesting.  
  
The hanger was not for aircraft after all. On each side of the hanger were bays fitted with electric hoist ladders and lifting platforms, and in each bay were large humanoid-shaped machines. Each had several visible weapons on their hands, arms, and torsos, ranging from large-caliber muzzles to batteries of missile launchers. They were painted in blue and white coloring with a ghost insignia painted on many. Others had earthier colors of brown and gold marking them. Robert recognized from briefing materials the sunburst-and-armored-fist insignia of the Federated Commonwealth, while some retained a sunbust-and-sword insignia instead. _That would mean that the fist comes from the Lyran insignia?_ , Robert pondered.  
  
"Walking tanks," Leo murmured. "Damn." The latter word was a whisper only Robert could hear.  
  
The honor guard remained at attention to each side. Along with the rifles they held at parade rest, the officers were wearing ceremonial swords and, to Robert's momentary disbelief, spurs on their boots.  
  
On the other end of the lines of male and female soldiers was a group of individuals. One was clad in a simple suit, mostly dark in coloring, and Robert could sense the slight unease rolling off him joined by a tinge of suspicion. He eyed them over thoroughly and fixed his gaze, for an extra second or so, on Meridina's _lakesh_ hilt on her belt.  
  
The second man was more curious than uneased by their arrival. He was looking at them intently all the same and Robert had the feeling he, Leo, and Meridina were being sized up to some degree. The man in question had a full beard and mustache and light brown hair, while his uniform marked him as a Colonel in the FedCom military.  
  
That left the third and final one, standing between these two men. He had the sharpest and most-decorated uniform, with a groomed head of blond hair that almost emulated Robert's own preferred haircut. Blue eyes met his and Robert's gift sensed a mix of curiosity, unease, uncertainty… but leavened heavily with a dose of confidence. He got the feeling a decision had been made. It had not been made easily, but now that it had been, it was going to be followed through.  
  
The most astonishing thing about the third figure, arguably, was his height. Robert towered over him by at least 9 inches. He looked to be about Cat's height, all things said, even if he was clearly more built out.  
  
Robert figured he was due to speak first. Recalling Willoughby's use of address, Robert said, "Your Highness, thank you for welcoming us to your world."

As Robert considered how to do the introduction, the short man replied with an accent that was more German than English. "I may have you to thank, Captain…"

At that, Robert decided not to worry about the decorum of offering a hand compared to bowing or what have you. He extended his hand toward the shorter man. "Captain Robert Dale, Alliance _Starship Aurora_." He could feel the disapproval of Willoughby to that gesture.

The reply was initially a nod. And, much to Robert's surprise, the hand was accepted. "I am Prince Victor Steiner-Davion. Welcome to New Avalon, Captain."  
  
"Thank you, Highness." He gestured to Leo and Meridina next. "These are two of my officers. Emissary Willoughby indicated you wished to meet one of my medical officers, so this is Doctor Leonard Gillam, my Chief Medical Officer. And Commander Meridina is my Chief of Security."

"Doctor. Commander." A handshake was offered again. Willoughby seemed to be stunned at the apparent informality. "A pleasure."  
  
"Highness." Leo accepted the handshake.  
  
"Highness, greetings." Meridina bowed her head slightly in respect during the handshake.  
  
With that introduction complete, Victor introduced those with him, gesturing to either side. "My personal aide, Kommandant Gerald Cranston, and Mr. Curaitis, my security advisor."  
  
Robert was the first to take their hands. Cranston was the bearded officer, Curaitis the dark-clad man.  
  
After the rounds of handshakes finished, Victor indicated a nearby VTOL craft large enough to carry all seven of them, plus a bodyguard for Victor. "I know you are curious why I asked for your arrival to be moved up. If you will please follow me, I will show you. My personal craft is waiting to airlift us to the NAIS Hospital."  
  
"NAIS?", Robert asked.  
  
"The New Avalon Institute of Science, Captain," Willoughby answered. "One of the top centers of scientific study and learning in the Inner Sphere."  
  
"Ah." _And so we get closer to why we're down here._ "After you then, Highness."

 

 

 

Barnes had made it to Engineering before Scotty came to him. "Over here, lad," he said urgently, just as Barnes was about to look over the sensors on the impulse manifolds.  
  
Barnes nodded and followed his mentor into the main engineering office, across from the banks of naqia reactors that powered the ship's main systems.  
  
Scotty waited until the door closed behind Barnes. "Well, lad. Ah think ye ken what Ah brought ye in here for."  
  
Barnes let out a sigh. "My big mouth at the meeting."  
  
"Aye." Scotty nodded. He didn't seem disappointed or angry, but Barnes could tell he was still unsettled. "Lad, ye're one of th' most natural engineers I've ever trained. Ye've got th' stuff t' be th' finest of yer generation. But ye need t' think about things sometimes, lad. Ye cannae just go mouthin' off with diplomats an' others like that."  
  
A frustrated look came to Barnes. He ran a head through his red hair. "Yeah, I know, Scotty, I know. It's just… that guy was so pompous. This whole thing is dumb, the 'Highness' this and 'Majesty' that. Princes and stuff. So I have to laugh."  
  
"Lad, ye've yet t' see th' things I've dealt with in my career," Scotty replied. "And ye have t' know, Tom, that sometimes ye just have t' keep yer mouth _shut_. Ye widnae like it if someone made fun o' _yer_ things, wud ye?"  
  
"Are you kidding? _I_ make fun of my things. Anything can be ridiculous and stupid." Barnes noticed Scotty wasn't pleased with that and sighed. "Okay, I get it. I make fun of the wrong thing and we end up in a holy war, so I have to watch my mouth."  
  
"That's exactly my point, Tom." Scotty smiled thinly. "An' ye should remember, lad, that I'm a Scotsman myself, an' we had our own kings an' quins. Some of 'em were our finest heroes."  
  
"Eh, it's the American in me," Barnes said flippantly. "Royalty is something to laugh at."  
  
"Just so long as ye're daein' yer laughin' in private, then. So ye dinnae cause trouble. Alright?" Scotty gave him an expectant look. His point had been made.  
  
It was also completely clear. Barnes knew he couldn't just wave it off. "Yes sir," he replied. "I understand."  
  
"Good. Now, lad, I need someone t' take a good look at…"

 

 

 

The VTOL departed the palace and flew over the airspace of Avalon City. The Davion capitol had skyscrapers and structures that looked futuristic, at least to Robert's 21st Century aesthetics, with curves along the buildings and their tendency to taper inward along the top. Below a large patch of greenery marked a central park.  
  
"That is the Davion Peace Park," Prince VIctor noted. "A tour may be possible at a later time."  
  
"I'd enjoy that," Robert replied. Not in English, but his best German. "You are a German speaker first, yes?"  
  
Victor replied with a nod. " _Ja_."  
  
"My grandmother was German," Robert answered. "I learned the language from the time I was four."  
  
"It explains your accent, your English is unlike your subordinates."  
  
Robert looked to Leo and smiled. "Doctor Gilliam is from Georgia, in the Southeast US of our world. I am from Kansas. My English is very much a Midwestern accent. You will hear more of that accent if you meet my command staff." He looked over to Meridina. "As for Commander Meridina, she is Gersallian. Not Human."  
  
Leo gave him a look of bemusement and a bit of annoyance. Meridina followed the conversation with interest, aided by her auto-translator.  
  
Victor and his staff - Cranston and Curaitis presumably knew enough German to realize what Robert had said - looked over Meridina with curiosity. "My people resemble Humans externally, yes," she said, her formal tone in that lilting accent that made Robert think of Irish mixed with the Oklahoma-born Cherokee he had occasionally met when he was young. "It is a wonder of the cosmos that our species are so alike."  
  
"There are other alien species that closely resemble Humans," Robert said, switching back to English. "It's a mystery biologists are still seeking to solve."  
  
Victor nodded. A diplomatic smile crossed his face. "I look forward to learning more about your Multiverse, Captain. It seems to be an incredible place."  
  
"It's far beyond anything I expected to see growing up on the family farm," Robert replied. "But I wouldn't miss it for anything."

 

 

 

Their arrival at the NAIS was met by a phalanx of more security personnel and medical figures. For a few minutes Robert and his officers remained by the VTOL while Victor fielded what seemed to be complaints and protests and pleadings. But he remained determined. After he had won over or talked down his people, he walked back to them. "I apologize for the secrecy," he said. "This is a matter of Commonwealth security. Arguably, security for the entire Inner Sphere."  
  
"We understand, Highness."  
  
"You may address me as Prince, if you desire," Victor said. "I can hardly stand on protocol given the favor I am about to ask."  
  
"Very well, Prince."

"This way."  
  
Victor and his staff led them to a conference room in the Institute. Inside Curaitis ran an electronics device around the room. "It's clean, Highness," he said.  
  
Meridina looked up from her multidevice. "Indeed. There are no emissions save our own, and encryption is in place. We are secure to speak privately."  
  
Victor took a seat at the table, prompting Robert and his officers to do the same. "To begin, Emissary Willoughby was kind enough to tell me some time ago about your medical breakthroughs," Victor said. "Among them was a cure for all forms of cancer."  
  
Robert nodded to Leo, who nodded back and answered, "Yes."  
  
"How well can you cure it?"  
  
"Completely, permanently," Leo replied. "Everything from brain cancer to leukemia. We use targeted genetic rewriting and adaptable retroviral agents to prevent the condition and heal short-term damage."  
  
"Genetic rewriting?" The question was from Cranston.  
  
"To keep cells from making new cancerous growths," Leo explained. "It can also target existing ones, restrict them, and eventually eliminate them without the damage and suffering caused by chemotherapy."  
  
Victor nodded. "How long does it take? To have an effect?"  
  
Leo replied immediately. "Several weeks, usually at least twelve. It depends on the severity of the case."  
  
That answer made Victor's expression change to disappointment. Whatever he was interested in, it clearly had a shorter time limit.  
  
Leo noticed it too. "There are options for more advanced cases," he confirmed. "Surgical options, mostly. But they're more dangerous, especially if the patient is in such an advanced state that their bodies are at risk during invasive procedures." Leo put his hands together. "What kind of cancer is it?"  
  
Robert couldn't help but note that Curaitis was clearly unhappy with this discussion. Cranston seemed on edge, but not opposed.  
  
"Leukemia," Victor replied.  
  
"How advanced?", Leo asked.  
  
Victor did not answer immediately. He picked up a digital reader of his own, or some similar device, and operated it.  
  
A flatscreen at the end of the room turned on. It was displaying a hospital room. Robert's heart ached at the colorful designs. It was in the childrens' ward of the NAIS hospital, he guessed.  
  
The bed was occupied by a bald-headed boy, likely no older than eight, maybe as old as eleven, Robert guessed. He was comatose and sickly. IVs were running medications and fluids into his body and sensors were wired through his hospital gown.  
  
Leo took in a breath. "I see." He swallowed and looked away for a moment. His emotions were evident to Meridina, very clearly, and Robert thought he could feel his friend's uncertainty and determination clashing.  
  
"His name is Joshua Marik," Victor said.  
  
"As in House Marik?", Meridina inquired.  
  
"Yes." Victor nodded at her. "And he is Thomas Marik's only legitimate heir."  
  
Robert glanced toward Curaitis. He could feel the security man's disapproval now.  
  
"Years ago, during the Clan Invasion of the Inner Sphere, my father forged an agreement with Thomas Marik," Victor continued. "The Free Worlds League would provide upgrade modification kits for our army to fight the Clans more effectively, and in exchange, House Davion would have Joshua treated at NAIS. Our hospital has the Inner Sphere's most advanced oncology unit. It was his best chance."  
  
"Leukemia isn't easily beaten," Leo murmured.  
  
"My doctors have done all they can for Joshua," Victor said. "But it's not enough. They are doubtful he will survive the month."  
  
"A terrible thing," Meridina remarked quietly. "But I sense that there is a higher stake for you beyond the child's life."  
  
"Very astute of you, Commander," Cranston remarked. "There is." With Victor's nod of approval, Cranston continued to speak with the tones of a military man. "If Joshua dies, the leadership of the Free Worlds League will go to his older half-sister, Isis Marik. Who is currently betrothed to Sun-Tzu Liao."  
  
"Liao." Robert recognized the name. "As in the Capellan Chancellor?"  
  
"Yes," Cranston replied. "This would give Sun-Tzu, as the consort of the heiress, enormous influence over Marik's industrial and economic power. Power we need to fight the Clans, but which he would just as likely use to promote Capellan efforts to reconquer the Sarna and Tikonov Marches and the St. Ives Compact."

"So this is also politics," Robert ruminated. And as he did so, he realized what it meant for them. Whatever the Clans were - he'd have to look over more of the data later - they were already a big enough distraction for the forces of the Inner Sphere, impeding their ability to assist the Alliance if an agreement could be reached. If the Liao leader had his way, the Inner Sphere would be divided into two or three camps by his efforts at reconquest.  
  
 _Who's to say he's wrong?_ , Robert considered to himself. _If those worlds are worlds that are a part of his nation, why wouldn't he want to recover them and undo their conquest by a foreign occupier? Just because Victor seems to be a good ruler doesn't mean his Commonwealth hasn't done bad things._  
  
Meridina met his eyes. She could sense his thought, and he could see she was thinking something similarly.  
  
But orders were orders. The Foreign Ministry considered the Federated Commonwealth to be the best potential partner for the Allied Systems, going by his briefing, and the Free Worlds League ranked second on that list. The Liao leader could undermine that. And the likely diplomatic cost of getting him to work with them would only serve to embroil the Alliance in Inner Sphere territorial disputes.  
  
Of course, in the end… none of that really mattered. Not to Robert, not to Meridina, and as both could easily tell, not to Leo. Leo's eyes fixed on the screen for several more seconds. "I don't care about that," he said. "What I do care about is him." He looked to Victor. "I want to help. I have facilities in the _Aurora_ 's medlab to begin short-term treatment and stabilize Joshua's condition."  
  
The smile Victor gave in reply was a thankful one. "Doctor, nothing will be denied to you. All I ask is that you save Joshua's life."  
  
"I give you my word," Leo vowed. "I'll save him."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The peace of the Inner Sphere is in Leo's hands when he is asked to save the life of a terminally-ill prince.

Leo went with Cranston to meet with Joshua's doctors and get his latest test results, vital signs, and other medical data he needed to begin a treatment plan. This left the others in the room to go into other topics.  
  
With Willoughby directing the questions, material on the threat of the Clans was discussed. They had a technological edge over the Inner Sphere in many categories and a larger starship fleet, or "WarShip" as the materials they were shown referred to these vessels.  
  
Robert looked over the uploaded documents on his multidevice. _WarShip, JumpShip, DropShip… not to mention 'BattleMech'. This universe has a bit of a hang-up on these compound words being separately capitalized._ "This Truce of Tukkayid," Robert began. "How precisely does it work?"  
  
"No Clan can advance across a line parallel to Tukkayid," Victor replied. "Not for another ten years."  
  
"And they'll honor this? Even with this… division they have, Wardens and Crusaders?"  
  
"That is what our analysts insist," Curaitis said. "Unless they abrogate the truce. Our intelligence considers this a possibility due to the strength of the Crusader movement."  
  
"A distressing possibility, certainly," Meridina noted. "What is it they desire? Simple conquest?"  
  
"They want to restore the Star League," Victor replied. "With the Clans as the leaders."  
  
"Peculiar."  
  
Robert nodded. "Well, that's something to deal with when we come to it. As things are we might be able to give you a technological edge."  
  
"That would be appreciated." Victor folded his hands on the table. "But I know this won't be charity. What is it your Alliance wants in return?"  
  
Robert considered his reply. It seemed best to go with the truth. "Well, first off… one thing to understand of the Multiverse is that histories do not have to follow the same flow," he began. "Histories can be different. They're clearly different in various universes. The Gersallians' home universe of N2S7, for instance, has an Earth that was destroyed by atomic warfare millennia ago. The political and cultural developments of Earth have several points where they might diverge. The Earth Confederacy of H1E1, the Federated Stars of L2M1, the Sol Republic in D3R1, they all have similarities and differences in how they developed, and that's just three of the Earths in our Alliance. A prominent example of an outlier is your Inner Sphere, Prince Victor, and your interstellar feudalism."  
  
"Your point is made, I think," Curaitis remarked.  
  
Robert nodded to him. "It is, yes." He looked back to Victor. Willoughby was remaining silent. Presumably he considered his job to be smoothing over any ruffled feathers in this exchange. "With that point made…. Highness, in your studies of history, have you ever become familiar with the 20th Century and the existence of Nazi Germany?"  
  
Victor nodded. "Even after eleven centuries, we remember them. The first great hate movement of Human history, responsible for the first application of industrial mass murder. Hitler's name is still known and reviled…" Victor stopped and blinked. "No."  
  
Robert could tell he'd put two and two together. "Yes."  
  
"You've found a world where they…" Victor's brow furrowed. The news had clearly perturbed him. "And they're…"  
  
"The Third Reich, the Nazi Empire, is the hegemon of Universe S4W8," Robert replied. "We've been at war with them for eight months."  
  
Curaitis looked at Victor and shifted in his chair uncomfortably. Victor remained passive for a moment. He blinked as he processed his thoughts. Robert sensed the mix of disgust, of outrage, at the very idea of such a regime controlling an interstellar empire. A moment of instinctive horror at the thought of such a state gaining entry into the Inner Sphere.  
  
Finally the ruler of the Federated Commonwealth looked at them again. "Tell me more," Victor asked.  
  
  
  
  
Cranston had brought Leo into the presence of the lead oncologist on Joshua's case. Dr. Joseph Harper was listing out the results of the last tests of Joshua's blood. The picture was not good.  
  
"How can you help, Doctor Gillam?", he asked pointedly. Several of his colleagues were just as interested in the answer to come.  
  
Leo was deep in thought for a moment. "He's not stable enough for a transporter," he said. "And even a shuttle flight might be too much. I want to stabilize him enough to get him up to the _Aurora_ and my medbay facilities. We need to get him some strength back." Leo reached to his wrist and keyed the multidevice's comms. "Gillam to medbay."  
  
" _Opani here, Doctor Gillam_ ," was the reply. The _Koenig_ CMO was, with her ship docked to the _Aurora_ , serving shifts in the _Aurora_ medbay. " _What can I do for you?_ "  
  
"Doctor, I need some stock synthblood material and a blood replication kit." Leo thought for a moment. "And prep the medbay for a civilian patient, eight to eleven years of age, with advanced leukemia that has moved into the CNS."  
  
" _Yes Doctor. I'm arranging both right now. Standby._ "  
  
"What are you doing?", Doctor Harper asked. It was clear that the request might soon become a demand.  
  
"We need to get healthy blood into him," Leo explained. "I can use a small blood sample to attune the synthblood to his body. His body will strengthen and his condition will stabilize." Leo put his eyes back to his scans of Joshua. "We may even be able to get his CNS operating normally by clearing out the blast cells. With any lasting damage, nerve regeneration treatments are a long-term possibility once he's stable."  
  
"And once he's stable enough?", Doctor Harper asked.  
  
Leo looked back to him. "Then I get Joshua to my medbay and expand the process with replicated blood. Genetic samples can be used to replicate new bone marrow that hasn't been impacted by his condition. In a week or so, once he's strong enough, I do a bone marrow transplant with the replicated material."  
  
Doctor Harper stared at Leo. "If you can do that, and it works, you've effectively reset his condition to early-stage leukemia."  
  
"Exactly." Leo nodded. "Then it's just a matter of beginning the gene-treatments. I can begin the process of finding the necessary resequencing during the first two phases of his treatment. Once the third phase is implemented, give it three to four months more and he should be leukemia free for the rest of his life."  
  
"You're talking about changing his base DNA to eliminate cancer?" It was clear Harper was incredulous at the idea.  
  
"I'm talking about changing his base DNA so that his cells will prevent cancerous growths from ever forming," Leo elaborated. "Just as I've done for myself and thousands of others."  
  
Leo couldn't help it. He smiled at seeing the hope light up on Doctor Harper's face. Cancer had always been one of the most terrible illnesses to strike at people.  
  
" _Nasri here, Doctor_ ," a voice said from his multidevice. " _We're ready to beam down with your requested equipment._ "  
  
"Lock onto my coordinates and transport," Leo ordered them. "We have a child to save."  
  
  
  
  
After Captain Dale and his people excused themselves to return to their ship, Victor returned to the Palace. He went to his office and, after a quick glance of the state papers demanding his attention, turned instead to the window. It was midday on New Avalon and apparently "night time" for the _Aurora_ crew, going by Robert Dale's closing remarks.  
  
Victor found the _Aurora_ officers an interesting group. They were younger than he had expected, and certainly committed to their cause. Dale had spoken with some passion about the war with the Reich.  
  
It all seemed like a far-out science fiction holovid. Multiple universes, different histories, Nazi Germany as a space-faring empire.  
  
There was a knock at the door. "Come in," Victor answered.  
  
Curaitis and Cranston entered. "Jerry," Victor said, smiling thinly. He was used to that now, instead of the prior "Galen".  
  
The man once known as Galen Cox nodded. "Victor."  
  
"How are things going?"  
  
"Doctor Gillam has begun to transfuse synthetic blood into Joshua Marik to stabilize him," Jerry replied. "Dr. Harper is observing. I think he's a little skeptical and is waiting to see if we get any results."  
  
Victor nodded. "That's good." Victor noted the look on Curaitis' face. "You still disapprove?"  
  
"You are gambling a lot on the ability of the Alliance to save Joshua's life," Curaitis pointed out. "As I already said. And by giving them access to Joshua Marik, our ability to implement Gemini has been completely compromised."  
  
Victor nodded. "I know."  
  
"All of the effort we put into…"  
  
"...is appreciated, Curaitis. It is." Victor looked back out the window and up toward the sky. Somewhere up there was the _Aurora_ , a ship unlike anything the Inner Sphere had seen. "But things may be changing now. Gemini is morally dubious…"  
  
"As you know, Highness, morality and rulership do not always go together."  
  
"My father said the same thing."  
  
"And your father would have kept these people at arm's length from Joshua Marik."  
  
Victor nodded slowly. "Probably. And maybe you're right. But…" He let out a sigh and looked back to them. "Joshua Marik… we haven't had a chance like this in years. He's spent so long on New Avalon that he's got people here he cares for. He's watched our holovids, seen our world. Made friends. Gemini is about delaying the effects of his death. What if we could do something with his _life_? As the heir to the League, and as Captain-General, he could be the most friendly neighbor we've ever had." Victor looked Curaitis squarely in the eye, which required craning his neck a little even from the distance. "And I think that's worth pursuing. If it costs us Gemini… I'm willing to take that chance."  
  
Curaitis nodded stiffly. "If that's what you think is best, sire. May I go see to Doctor Gillam's security? We don't need the Thuggees or Maskirovka to make him a target."  
  
Victor frowned. "No. We don't."  
  
Curaitis nodded and left.  
  
Victor went to his desk and sat down. Jerry remained with him. "Any news about my sister?"  
  
There was something of a bitter tone in his advisor's voice when the reply came. "She is performing well enough as Regent on Tharkad."  
  
"That is good to hear," Victor sighed. That was a long-term problem he'd have to deal with eventually.  
  
_But how will it go now? The Allied Systems, this Multiverse… it will change everything._  
  
"Can I do anything else for you, Victor?", Jerry asked.  
  
"That depends," Victor said, reaching for his pin. "Do you think the ministries will notice if I throw this pile into the fireplace?"  
  
"Unfortunately, Victor, they will. And they'll be very agitated."  
  
At that Victor sighed. "Paperwork," he murmured. "The burden of every ruler."  
  
  
  
  
"Paperwork." Robert thumped his digital reader to his desk and ignored the smirk on Julia's face. "The burden of every starship captain."  
  
"So you say." Julia looked over her reader. "Well, it looks like your burden is lifted for the day."  
  
"Oh, there will be a fresh stack tomorrow," Robert sighed.  
  
"It could always be worse," Julia pointed out. Her smile faded away into a somber look. "We just got the latest updates from Harris. Relini had to abandon the New Pommerania attack."  
  
Robert frowned. "Damn." He shook his head. "Because of the Klingons. All because of the damn Klingons."  
  
"Some of the other allies are picking up their efforts," Julia continued to say. "President Sheridan just got an aid bill approved in the InterStellar Alliance Council."  
  
"Well, that's some good news at least." He looked back at the window to the planet spinning below. "You should probably know that Leo's in another mood."  
  
She frowned. "Oh no."  
  
"Cancer patient. Leukemia, to be exact."  
  
"Advanced?", Julia asked.  
  
"Very. Apparently the kid might not last the month."  
  
"And Leo is convinced he can save the kid, I'm betting," Julia said. "Is this why we got called early?"  
  
"It is." Robert nodded. "The kid is named Joshua Marik. Apparently he's the heir to one of the other powers. Some deal that Prince Victor's father made with the boy's father for war material to fight the Clans."  
  
"So there's Inner Sphere politics mixed up with this," Julia asked.  
  
"Apparently so. I put it in the report." A distant look came over Robert's green eyes. "I'm worried about Leo."  
  
"I know." Julia nodded. "When he gets like this, there's no talking to him."  
  
"He's sure he can save this kid. Completely convinced."  
  
"I'm sure he can. It's what will happen if he can't that worries me." Julia put her hands on her knee. "I can have a talk with him. Remind him how close things came last year with that Goa'uld surgery."  
  
"If you think it will help." A flashing light drew Robert's attention over to the screen of his bridge office computer terminal. "Well, it's getting late," he said. "And Meridina wants to get in a training session before the night's over."  
  
Julia frowned at him. "You know I'm trying to be supportive of this, Robert, but you're spending a lot of your off-time in this training, it seems. All you were supposed to learn was how to control this stuff. It feels like this is going beyond that."  
  
"Apparently control is more complicated than it seemed before," he answered. But that didn't seem quite as satisfying a reply to the issue. "And I don't seem to have the same grasp on this that Lucy does so it's taking longer."  
  
"Hopefully not much longer." Julia knew how much this was upsetting Angel as well. She was happy to see Robert and Angel together as they were, making each other happy as well. Having that jeopardized… Julia could remember how it had hurt them both the last time they broke up. With the stress of their current jobs, the pain of another breakup might be too much.  
  
"I know that look." Robert's voice had mock reproachfulness in it. "It's the 'Julia must be a mother hen to her flock' look."  
  
A bemused glint came to Julia's aquamarine-toned green eyes. "I consider it one of my duties." The glint became mischievous. "After all, if I didn't keep you and everyone else from driving yourselves crazy, Rob, _you_ would be stuck with that job. And I think you have enough on your plate."  
  
"That's why I'd delegate it to Jarod," Robert laughed. "He's done that kind of thing before."  
  
"We're talking about Jarod, the 'Pretender'. He's done _everything_ before," Julia pointed out. She was a half-second quicker in standing. "So, go on to mind energy practice or whatever you call it. I'll wrap up this watch shift and get ready for tomorrow."  
  
"Sounds like a plan."  
  
  
  
  
It was 2255 on Leo's device clock when he noticed his newest patient stir. With the change in medication from sedatives to his inventory of advanced painkillers, Joshua would no longer be relegated to a coma.  
  
Two eyes opened slowly and turned toward him. "Who are you?", the weak voice of Joshua Marik asked.  
  
"I'm Doctor Gillam," he answered. "You can call me Dr. Leo."  
  
The young prince's eyes closed. "You're another new doctor?"  
  
Leo nodded. "I am. And we're going to make you better."  
  
Joshua's eyes opened again. He looked over. A dark-skinned woman - dark-skinned like Leo, or even moreso - and looking at a machine. His eyes followed the machine and the tubes filled with dark red fluid. He'd seen his blood pumped in and out before, but this machine looked strange. It had blue tones to its surface instead of gray.  
  
Behind her, Dr. Harper - whom he did recognize - was watching intently.  
  
"What are they doing to me, Doctor Harper?", asked Joshua.  
  
"They're giving you new blood," he replied.  
  
Leo nodded. "It's called synthblood," he said to Joshua. "Synthetic blood. We used a blood sample to type it to you. It's clear of the imperfections that your leukemia causes and can carry more nutrients that your body needs to be healthy." Leo smiled warmly at Joshua. "Within a couple of days you'll be feeling a lot better."  
  
"Okay." Joshua squinted. "Will it make me better?"  
  
"Yes." The nurse across from Leo gave the answer. "It is the first step to making you all better, child."  
  
Joshua looked at her with curiosity. "Your voice is weird. Where are you from?"  
  
A small smile came to her face. "I am from Darfur. My name is Nasri."  
  
Joshua seemed to think on that. "I've never heard of that world," he finally said. "Is it in the Periphery?"  
  
Nasri seemed confused for a brief moment. "Um… no, it is not."  
  
That left him puzzled. There were so many planets in the Inner Sphere, but he was certain he'd never heard of one called 'Darfur'.  
  
But he was still very tired. He began to drift off into sleep.  
  
  
  
  
 _Medbay Log: 13 March 2642; ASV Aurora. Doctor Leonard Gillam reporting. This log is made in reference to special patient Joshua Marik, presented to me approximately thirty-six hours ago with an advanced state of leukemia.  
  
Doctor Harper has just reported to me Joshua's vitals as of 0600 shipboard time. The synthblood has had the desired effect. Patient vitals have improved sufficiently that he is now considered to be in stable condition. As soon as the doctors in the NAIS sign off on the transfer, the _St. Johns _will be employed to bring Joshua Marik up to the_ Aurora _for the next phase of his treatment. I have already prepared a private bed space for the patient and we have the first two days of replicated blood ready for transfusion._  
  
Leo finished his medical log update and looked back to the data that the NAIS had sent. Joshua's vitals had shown great improvement over the last thirty-two hours. The synthblood was doing its job in restoring vitality to his body and getting his organs functioning in proper condition. Now that he was stable enough to move, the next step would bring him away from the brink long enough for the long-term healing solution to start working.  
  
He was so fixated on the medical data that he didn't realize he had a visitor until he heard the knock at the door. He looked up in time to see Julia standing in the doorway, leaning slightly against it. She was in duty uniform, black with the red command branch color and the three gold slanted strips below her shoulder marking her as a Commander. Long blond hair, still lightly damp, was pulled back into a ponytail at the back of her head. A bemused grin was on her face and a twinkle in her green eyes. "Maybe I should feel hurt," she said. "Usually _I'm_ the distraction."  
  
Leo smirked at that. "I imagine you are," he said in an amused tone. He typed in a note. "What can I do for you, Julia?"  
  
"I'm down here to check up on things." Her expression got more serious as she walked in and took a seat. She leaned forward and set her arms on his desk. "Or rather, to check up on you, Leo."  
  
Leo looked up from his terminal. He felt bemused by the attention. "Another intervention by you as our common surrogate mother?"  
  
Julia laughed at that. "I'm just making sure everything's okay."  
  
"A kid's dying of leukemia, Julia," Leo replied. He shook his head. "That's _never_ okay."  
  
"I know." She nodded and leaned back in the chair. "Just as I know you're about to fight heaven and hell to keep him alive."  
  
"Damned right."  
  
"And I'm proud of that." Julia allowed him to type for a moment. "I'm just worried about… the alternative outcome, I guess."  
  
"Not gonna happen," Leo insisted. Noticing the look on her face, Leo smirked. "I know, alright? As a physician I have to deal with death. I have to accept that I will have patients that will die. But… I mean, Joshua's case is severe, yes, but it's only hopeless by their science. I can stabilize him easily enough, then it's just a matter of gradually getting his body back to normal."  
  
"You're that sure, Leo?"  
  
"Completely," Leo insisted. "The Alliance… our medical technology, the stuff we got from the Darglan and the FedStars, the Federation, it lets us save people like Joshua. Kids like him." He tapped a final key. "And that's what I'm going to do."  
  
"Alright. I'm not here to try and be the pessimist, you know that," Julia insisted. "I just want to make sure your head is on straight."  
  
"It is." He nodded at her before looking back to the information on his screen. Something he was seeing took him by surprise a little. "That's weird," he murmured.  
  
Julia caught that. "Leo?"  
  
"The medical notes on Joshua," he replied. "The names are different over the last few months. Different doctors have been signing under Doctor Harper."  
  
"Well, it's a large facility," she pointed out.  
  
"Yeah." Leo nodded. He shrugged. "And with a celebrity case, I can see most of the doctors wanting a chance to get their names involved." He checked the time and stood up. "Sorry, but I have to meet the _St. Johns_. We're due to leave in fifteen minutes."  
  
"I know." Julia smiled at him and stood. She turned toward the door just as Leo got to it. "Alright, Leo. Good luck. Get that kid up here so you can heal him."  
  
Leo smiled back at her before heading out of the office.  
  
  
  
  
The NAIS hospital had a helipad for receiving emergency patients. After careful examination, Lucy determined that it would be just big enough for the _St. Johns_ to land on for the transfer. The sky was only slightly overcast and the view of Avalon City was magnificent. "You know what this place reminds me of?", she said to Meridina, sitting beside her in the cockpit. They were both in duty uniforms for the trip, Lucy in Operations beige and Meridina in olive-brown. "Minnepaulis."  
  
Meridina looked to her. "I don't recognize that city name."  
  
"Well, on most Earths its Minneapolis and St. Paul," Lucy explained. "But in C502, they were hit by a nuclear strike in the late 21st Century. During the rebuilding people simply referred to the place as 'Minnepaulis' and it stuck. Which is _really_ weird to me… but all these different universes can be, well, different, you know?"  
  
"Yes." Meridina smiled lightly and nodded. "Agreed."  
  
"I mean, look at _this_ universe," Lucy continued. "They've got this whole neo-medieval feudalist thing going on. Lots of Princes and Dukes and Lords and Counts and whatever else you call them. It's just so _weird_."  
  
"Life is diversity in many things," Meridina remarked. "Experience being one of them." She sensed something and stood. "They're coming. I will need to meet them outside."  
  
"Of course," Lucy said. "Just let me know when we're lifting off."  
  
  
  
Meridina emerged from the airlock just as the lift from the hospital structure opened. Dr. Harper and Mr. Cranston emerged with nurses that were pushing along a hospital bed, joined by four men carrying assault firearms and wearing body armor.  
  
Leo, Nasri, and Nurse Li moved forward to take custody. Some final paperwork was signed. Cranston put in his own. "Prince Victor couldn't be here for the transfer, he had a prior obligation," Cranston explained. "But he asked me to accompany Joshua."  
  
"You're welcome to join us, Mister Cranston," Leo said. He ran his scanner over Joshua. "Feeling any better?"  
  
"I was," the boy replied. His voice was still weak. He squinted when looking toward Leo. "But the sun's too bright."  
  
"We'll get you out of it in a moment." Leo nodded to Nurse Li, who took over the bed and pushed it toward the medical runabout. "It's been awhile since you've been in space?"  
  
"Yes." Joshua lifted his head enough to see the _St. Johns_. "That's too small to be a DropShip. Is it a shuttle?"  
  
"It's called a runabout, and its name is the _St. Johns._ " They got to the door. Meridina remained standing there and smiled at Joshua as the bed was brought up. "This is Commander Meridina, Joshua," Leo said. "She's in charge of security."  
  
"So she's my bodyguard?", Joshua asked.  
  
"I am charged with your protection, yes," Meridina replied.  
  
The boy smiled. "I like you. You're pretty."  
  
Meridina's smile grew slightly. "Thank you for the compliment."  
  
"One moment, Doctor," Nasri said. She was kneeling beside the bed. "The wheel is catching."  
  
"I suppose we're too used to anti-grav transfer beds." Leo knelt down. "Here, let me see…"  
  
"Allow me," said Meridina. She lifted a hand. The bed wheels lifted off of the ferro-crete pad and the entire bed was now without a single point of contact with the ground. Joshua's eyes widened as he felt the sensation of the bed being in mid-air. He watched her intently as her hand moved gently toward the _St. Johns._ The wheels soon had contact with the floor of the runabout airlock. Nurse Li rolled the bed in.  
  
Leo smiled weakly and noticed that Cranston, Harper, and the MIIO protection team were staring with incredulity written on their faces. "You probably shouldn't have done that," he murmured to Meridina.  
  
"I suppose they are quite stunned," she noted. "But they would learn of _swevyra_ \- of power from life force - eventually, Doctor. I believe no harm has been done."  
  
"No harm," Cranston agreed. "Just… a hell of a lot of questions, ma'am."  
  
"I can answer easily, but I believe we should be going." Meridina stepped up into the airlock. "This way, Mister Cranston."  
  
Leo followed Cranston in and the bodyguards took up the rear. Commonwealth MIIO had insisted on them, Leo hadn't cared so long as they stayed out of the way, and Meridina and Robert had both agreed.  
  
Leo went into the medical module, where Joshua was again staring in complete surprise. This time it was surprise at the third nurse he'd brought, Corpsman 1st Class Yamata Djamal. The blue-skinned Dorei man was looking back at the emaciated boy with dark teal eyes brimming with compassion.  
  
"An alien," Joshua said in wonderment.  
  
"As you are," Djamal answered in accented English. "We are all aliens to one another."  
  
The bodyguards, now gathered at the entrance, looked like they were fighting the impulse to stare by keeping even more intent looks on their charge. Cranston had no such requirement and outright gawked in shock. "I… I remember Emissary Willoughby mentioning… but aliens?"  
  
"Nurse Djamal is a Dorei," explained Leo. "He's from a Dorei nation called Janrala." He smiled thinly. "And he's not even the first alien you've seen. But first things first." He looked to Li and Nasri, who were removing the medical sensors on Joshua. Djamal was bringing up the module's main medical scanners to begin watching Joshua's condition. "Are we ready?"  
  
Nasri and Li shook their heads. A few more sensors had to come off first. Working together they lifted Joshua up and carefully set him onto the main bed. With the transfer complete Nasri wheeled the bed back out of the module. "All systems are green, Doctor," Djamal said. "Full monitoring is on." A display above him showed a holographic recreation of Joshua's figure, with varying models displaying cardiovascular activity, brainwave pattern, and other vitals.  
  
Nasri returned to the door. "We are secure," she said.  
  
Leo nodded and reached over for the intercom button on the wall beside him, right beside the folded up surgical unit. "This is Doctor Gillam. Lieutenant, we're ready back here."  
  
" _I'm clearing a flight path with Avalon City Air Traffic Control now,_ " Lucy answered. After another few moments she resumed speaking. " _Engines online. Preparing for launch… now._ "  
  
There was only a very subtle shift underneath them. It was clear, from their looks, that the FedCom personnel and Cranston had been expecting something more vigorous. "Are we airborne?", Cranston finally asked.  
  
Leo smirked slightly and nodded to Nurse Li. The Chinese woman smiled back and hit a key at the wall beside her. Shutters opened and an external view opened up the module to the sight of the sky beside them. Clouds whizzed downward.  
  
"I don't feel a thing," Cranston remarked.  
  
"Inertial dampeners, Mister Cranston," Leo said. "If we didn't have them I would never have approved bringing Joshua up."  
  
The atmosphere outside dimmed. Blue faded into black. A couple of DropShips were visibly burning in on the horizon and Joshua was happily watching the whole thing.  
  
And then it appeared. Lucy brought them up several kilometers to port of the _Aurora_. The kilometer-long starship shined in the light of New Avalon's G-sequence star. Leo had always liked the aesthetic of the design, the sleek hull lines moving back from the bow and the way the drive hull "started" about one quarter of the way down the primary hull with the ship's navigational deflector (not as visible as the blue-and-gold deflector dish were the torpedo launchers Leo knew to be there) at the front of that hull section. The lit torch insignia of the Allied Systems was present on the upper warp nacelle facing them. Green and white stripes were distantly visible on the azure hull of the advanced ship.  
  
"' _ASV-1701_ '?", Cranston observed.  
  
"The registry number for our ship," Leo answered. He could still recall over a year and a half ago, when he and the others had first seen the _Aurora_ complete at the Earth L2M1 Fleet Base. That sense of wonder was still with him. The realization that he _lived_ on that ship, that it had become part of his life. A life that, just a half decade ago, had been directed to the ambition of being an everyday doctor.  
  
_An everyday doctor without medical technology that laughs at the common cold and sneers at cancer_.  
  
"That's your ship?", Joshua asked. There was no hiding the amazement in his voice.  
  
"That's the _Aurora_ ," Leo confirmed.  
  
"It's so big… where are its sails?" Joshua looked at him from the bed. "Where do you put them?"  
  
"We don't use solar sails." Leo stepped up and put a hand on his new patient. "It's exciting, I know. And you'll see even more."  
  
The ship moved away from their sight. Another appeared in the window, an ovoid DropShip that Lucy had evidently flown around before making her approach. Joshua seemed disappointed.  
  
The _Aurora_ was still in Cranston's mind, though. He had never seen anything like it either. It looked… not even like lostech. It was like out of a science fiction holovid in its appearance.  
  
_Victor will want to see this for himself_ , Cranston realized. _He'll insist on it no matter what Curaitis says_.  
  
  
  
  
Once Joshua was in place in the medlab, Robert and Julia came by together to check up on everything. Leo was getting the first infusion of replicated healthy blood ready while his nurses finished settling their patient in. They were using an isolation unit in the critical care section at the insistence of the Commonwealth MIIO, a concession Robert made just as easily as allowing the bodyguard detachment onto the _Aurora_.  
  
Robert had handled introducing Julia to Cranston. Now the Prince's security advisor was standing with them while Leo worked.  
  
"Have you told my father?", Joshua asked them. "Does he know where I am?"  
  
"Well, since you've asked." Julia pressed the commkey on her multidevice. "Andreys to bridge. Do we have Emissary Janliran on yet?"  
  
Jarod answered with, " _We just established the subspace signal, Commander. Putting them on down in the iso-unit._ "  
  
The screen at the end of the room, facing Joshua, activated. An office appeared on the other end and a tan-skinned male with dark eyes and hair was standing there. His robed suit was recognizably Gersallian in its tones and aesthetics. " _Captain Dale?_ ," he asked.  
  
"We're here," Robert answered.  
  
Janliran nodded off-screen. The man who stepped onto the screen was older, well into his forties if not fifties Robert thought. His face was marred by horrible scarring, but even then Robert could see some of Joshua in the man's face. He wore a plain uniform with the emblem of House Marik on the heart.  
  
When the scarred man's eyes fell on Joshua, his expression changed. A smile started to show, one of happiness and pain. " _Joshua_ ," he said.  
  
"Hello Father," Joshua said formally. "Is Mama okay?"  
  
" _She is off on a tour and sends her best_ ," the reply came. He looked over to Robert and Julia. " _Captain Dale. I am Thomas Marik. Words cannot express my gratitude to you for agreeing to help my son._ "  
  
"It's my pleasure, sir," Robert answered. "Some credit should go to Prince Victor. He asked for our arrival to be moved up so he could get our help."  
  
" _Indeed, Captain. I will send him my thanks._ " Thomas looked to Leo now, where he was standing at a control panel for the blood transfer device. " _Doctor Gillam_?"  
  
"Yes sir," Leo answered.  
  
" _My thanks are to you as well._ "  
  
"Thank you, Captain-General." Leo nodded and patted Joshua on the shoulder. "Your son's a great kid. I'll do everything I can to get him healthy."  
  
Thomas nodded. His reaction was muted, stoic, and Robert got the feeling he was not letting himself react as fully as he wanted. For decorum, or out of habit for his position, Robert could not guess. " _You have my gratitude and that of my entire nation, Doctor Gillam. Please keep me informed of my son's condition._ "  
  
"Of course," Leo said. "I can explain the treatments to you right now, if you'd like, and answer any questions you have."  
  
" _Emissary Janliran has told me some of what is being done. You are producing artificial blood of some sort to ease his condition?_ "  
  
"Yes. Replicated blood, with functional white and red blood cells, will restore proper organ function and give him some of his strength back. Enough that I can move on to Phase 2..."  
  
Leo explained the processes planned and Thomas Marik listened, placing questions. As they spoke Robert looked to their guest and felt a surge of happy pride. This was what they had come out here to do: help people. Save lives. Make things better.  
  
And now they'd get to do so directly. A living Joshua would keep the Inner Sphere stable and buy time for Alliance diplomats to smooth out any lingering issues with the Capellans. A stable Inner Sphere was one that could contribute materially to the war with the Reich, should they be suitably convinced of the threat it might still pose. And afterward… there was no telling the limit of what they could do with the better technologies that the Multiverse would introduce them to.  
  
As soon as he was satisfied, the leader of the Free Worlds League spoke to his son again. " _It's good to see you again, Joshua,_ " he said. " _I hope you may be home sooner than we ever expected._ "  
  
"I can't wait," Joshua replied. With his developing life force abilities Robert could feel the boy's warm happiness at the thought. "I've missed everything!"  
  
Thomas smiled at his son. " _And we have missed you. I promise you, you will see it all again shortly. I'll call again later and see how you are doing._ "  
  
The channel cut.  
  
Joshua had some tears in his eyes. He was still weak, heart-wrenchingly so, and it took effort for him to turn to face Leo. "When do I get to go home?", he asked.  
  
"Give it a few weeks," Leo answered. "Maybe shorter. I need to get you stabilized first and then the main treatments can begin."  
  
"Okay." He accepted that. After years of living in the NAIS complex, Joshua was just happy to have the chance to go home soon.  
  
There was no mistaking the curiosity on his face with Joshua's next request. "Can I see the rest of the ship?"  
  
Julia smiled at him. "When Doctor Gillam says you can, I'll have you shown around."  
  
"Tomorrow morning," Leo said. "No sooner than that. I need you in here the rest of the day while I circulate the new blood completely."  
  
"Okay." Joshua laid his head back. "Do you have any holovids? I'd like to see the next _Immortal Warrior_."  
  
Leo smirked. "We've got plenty. Once we're done right here, I'll bring in a computer terminal that you can use to access or computers and find things to watch. Alright?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"If you need anything, Joshua, let me know," Julia said. "I know it can be lonely if you're stuck in bed all the time."  
  
"Thank you ma'am," he answered.  
  
"Good luck," Robert added. He and Julia stepped out of the iso-lab a moment later. "So far so good, right?", he asked Julia.  
  
"So far," she agreed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The peace of the Inner Sphere is in Leo's hands when he is asked to save the life of a terminally-ill prince.

The Lookout was in a mixed meal state. The Gamma Shift were coming in for their pre-shift breakfast and the Alpha Shift were picking up relatively late dinners.  
  
After another day of the relaxed routine of a starship in standard orbit, and not at warp flight, Barnes was happy enough to join Zack at a table. "It's something to be back, isn't it?", he remarked.  
  
Zack, nursing a drink, nodded and smiled slightly. "It is. I think I'm just getting used to the idea of being able to leave the _Koenig_ without having to beam over or wait for a shuttle flight."  
  
"Hell yeah, man." Barnes devoured a bite of dinner steak. "Mmm. They've got some good stuff planetside. Think of asking for a leave?"  
  
"Maybe."  
  
Seeing the distant look on his friend's face, Barnes sighed. "Counting the days until you can see your sweet nurse girlfriend,aren't you?"  
  
"How well you know me, buddy," Zack answered. "And I'm counting the hours, not days."  
  
"How are things going back there?", Barnes asked. "I mean, you keep in touch, right?"  
  
"Oh, it's the usual colony set-up. I think they're having more problems than we had setting up New Liberty." Zack shook his head. "She's working extra shifts to help out with the little injuries that keep coming in. People smashing their hands with hammers, that sort of thing."  
  
"Ha." Barnes shook his head. "Damn, man. It's only been what, three years since we founded New Liberty?"  
  
"Going on four," Zack pointed out.  
  
"Four damn years man. Doing this." Barnes sipped at his soda before continuing. "And I mean… back then, when the Facility was a new thing… I never thought it'd come to this. That we'd get so big."  
  
"That we'd start something like this," Zack added.  
  
"Yeah. I mean, it's all nice now, but do you remember how much of a pain it was getting New Liberty set up? Dealing with the new people who didn't want to share, or work together? Convincing everyone to help out?"  
  
"I remember getting my jaw broken," Zack grumbled playfully.  
  
"Heh. Yeah." Barnes smirked. "Angel acted like it was the funniest thing. 'Maybe now we'll get some peace and quiet'." He did a fair approximation of Angel's tone.  
  
"Then Leo had it fixed within a couple days."  
  
"And so she wanted to break it again!" Barnes broke out laughing.  
  
Their reminiscing stopped as a figure stepped up. "Mind if I take a seat?", Jarod asked.  
  
"Go right ahead, smart guy." Barnes gestured at the chair and then moved his drink over to let Jarod have more room for his plate of steak, potato, and shredded cabbage. "Zack and I are just thinking about old times."  
  
"Or not so old," Zack added. "I mean, we're coming up on four years now. Since Rob found the Facility."  
  
Jarod nodded. "It always feels longer than that." He held up his digital pad. "Don't mind me, I'm just doing some research for our fearless leaders."  
  
"Oh?", Barnes asked.  
  
"Nothing major. I'm watching over old social media, holovid entertainment, news reports. Things to help me, and us, understand the Federated Commonwealth." Jarod looked back at the reader and shook his head. "I'll tell you this, these people have way too many tabloids. By my estimate the tabloid market is at least twice as large, proportionally speaking, than our 21st Century one was. And people believe them far more often."  
  
"You've gotta be kidding me," Barnes groaned.  
  
"Hey, maybe there's a good reason?", Zack speculated. "Anything else interesting?"  
  
"Nothing major at the moment." Jarod kept viewing a muted video. "Just watching some footage. It looks like our new guest had a following of his own. Lots of Joshua Marik watchers…"  
  
"People love celebrities. Little prince with leukemia, hell, even our media would've ate that stuff up," Barnes pointed out.  
  
"Good point," Jarod said before returning to work.

 

 

 

Robert was due to transport down for another discussion with Willoughby and Prince Victor. Before going, though, he wanted to complete a report to Admiral Maran for the progress of their discussions and the issue of Joshua Marik.  
  
He was nearly done with the report when the office door chimed. He looked up and said, "Come in."  
  
He'd expected it to be Julia. But Jarod was the one who entered. He held out a digital reader. "I thought you might want to read this," he said.  
  
Robert accepted the reader and started reading the text. "What is this? The Federated Commonwealth equivalent of the _National Enquirer_?"  
  
"They tend to call them scandalvids in the Inner Sphere," Jarod noted. "I've been compiling them since yesterday. It's almost frightening how popular the tabloids are in this society."  
  
Robert did his best to speed read through the material. "Is there anything Victor _hasn't_ been accused of? And, frankly, is there anything here of importance?"  
  
"Not directly," Jarod conceded. "I'd point out, though, that psychologically speaking, how Victor deals with this will tell you a lot about his character. The emotions he feels, the thoughts he has."  
  
Robert came across one item and frowned. "My God… his mother…?"  
  
"Assassinated about nineteen months ago. A bombing."  
  
"And then a relative, this Ryan Steiner. Looks like their media thinks he did both. Or that he killed one or the other… and all of this stuff about him and this… Omi Kurita? As in the other ruling house, the Draconic one?"  
  
"Draconis Combine," Jarod corrected.  
  
Robert kept reading and rested his face halfway in his palm. "Oh for… they actually think he'd…" For a moment Robert considered it. "...then again, I suppose that's how nobles usually do things. Dowries and territorial exchanges and everything else. And I thought marriage planning was tough when the only thing you had to worry about giving was the rent for a tuxedo and a gift for the couple."  
  
"Different society," Jarod noted. "Land is always central to feudal cultures."  
  
"Or something equivalent, yes." Robert finally shut the pad down. "It makes me wonder what they'll say about _us_."  
  
"It's possible this is deliberate propaganda," Jarod noted. "That whoever owns these media outlets determines the targets of their story. Then they just need to get enough circulation on worlds where news isn't as common to be taken seriously."  
  
"Well, go ahead and write up a report on how this reflects the pressures and structure of FedCom society and what it can mean for any further diplomatic representation." Robert checked the time and stood up. "I have to get to the transporter now. If you find anything else interesting, let me know."  
  
"I'm on it."

 

 

 

The day's discussions had gone well. Technology, at least in abstract, was the main discussion, and Robert let Willoughby take the lead on it. Victor had brought his own science advisors and a slender young redheaded woman that was introduced as his teenage sister Yvonne. Her earnestness and demeanor was that of a student more than a princess, or so Robert thought.  
  
Then again… how many princesses had he actually met to judge her by?  
  
Although that wasn't what was…  
  
 _I sense your concern_ , he felt Meridina say, through her natural telepathy.  
  
 _I just want to know who I'm dealing with_ ," was the thought in reply.  
  
 _Then ask.  
  
Somehow I doubt Emissary WIlloughby will be so understanding._  
  
"....ten weeks, give or take," Willoughby was saying. He was looking over a chart of materials. "Engineering firms might be contracted to hasten the arrangements."  
  
"But your people won't be in a position to provide us with the WarShips yourselves?", Victor asked. He was wearing the same kind of uniform as before. A military man more than a politician, or even the kind of image someone might have of being a "prince".  
  
"I am sorry, but no," Willoughby maintained. "Purchase of civilian vessels will be quite easy, even for you, but for the time being the Alliance shipyards are busy replacing our own losses."  
  
"That will make it harder to justify an intervention, however, if we lack the means to protect our troops."  
  
"What if we assigned the escorts?", Robert asked. "I understand wanting your own ships, but it takes time to train crews in ship operations. A lot of time." Robert set a finger on the table in thought. "What if you sent officers and crew to train on those escorts as well, in fact?"  
  
"A workable proposition, I believe. As for my existing fleet…"

 

 

When the talks suspended for a late lunch, Willoughby excused himself, and Yvonne afterward. Meridina remained by the door, standing with Curaitis.  
  
Victor was looking at something on his reader device - a 'noteputer', they'd called it - when Robert decided to begin speaking. "I'm sorry about your parents."  
  
Victor looked up at him.  
  
"I know what it's like," Robert continued. "It's…" He swallowed. "It's been four years since I lost my parents and sister to a crash. A truck driver had a heart attack and slammed his vehicle into my family's car."  
  
Try as he might, Robert knew he couldn't keep that old pain off his face. Victor could see it. Meridina would feel it, and did.  
  
"Do you have any other siblings, Captain?", Victor asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"No cousins?"  
  
"One. Beth. She runs the New Liberty Colony." Robert smiled thinly. "We keep in contact as best we can. She's got a growing colony of refugees and exiles to deal with and I have my missions, though. We only see each other once a year for the Colony Anniversary celebrations."  
  
Victor nodded. "It's always good to stay in touch with family."  
  
"Given everything you've gone through…" Robert let that statement hang for the moment. "My operations officer has been conducting social analysis for reports back home. He's been watching your media, reading news reports and editorials, and the like."  
  
A sad, wry grin crossed the Prince's face. "I hope he judges us kindly for our entertainment media."  
  
"Oh, we're imperfect in that regard too," Robert assured him with a knowing grin. "Your scandalvids are what we call tabloids. But from what I've seen, we don't take them so seriously."  
  
A harsh laugh came from the Prince. The look that briefly crossed his face showed that he hadn't quite meant to slip control like that. "You have probably noticed I am a favorite target for them."  
  
"Commander Jarod shared that, yes," Robert said carefully. "But the arguments being made… they're no different than the people from my world who ranted about the United Nations and black helicopters. They're taking advantage of your mother's death, your cousin's, and everything else to hit you with."  
  
He sensed emotion. Frustration, fear, and grief… and, much to his surprise, a little guilt.  
  
 _His cousin_ , Meridina said telepathically.  
  
"Thank you for your understanding," Victor finally said. "But I'd rather not discuss it."  
  
"Of course," Robert answered.  
  
"How is Joshua, by the way?"  
  
"Oh." Robert grinned a little. "He's doing well. I think he's getting the show of his life right now."

 

 

 

Julia had personally taken charge of Joshua's tour of the ship, with Leo and Cranston joining them with Nasri and Djamal to help. They had journeyed to the back of the _Aurora_ , giving Joshua a view of the fighter hanger, the main shuttlebay, and the _Koenig_ 's berth. They swung by engineering and the biolabs, where Joshua was delighted to meet the Gl'mulli scientist Doctor Ke'mani'pala. "She was made of jello!", he proclaimed after they left Science Lab 3. "Jello!"  
  
"'She' is a relative term," Julia remarked. "Gl'mulli don't have genders."  
  
Cranston looked at her with some surprise. "You mean they… how do they have kids then?"  
  
"Spawning," Leo said. "Gl'mulli can merge their forms together, and in this state genetic information is passed into surface membranes to mingle with their own. They form embryos and shift them internally until gestation is advanced, them the developed spawnlings move to the surface of their forms and drop off."  
  
Cranston shook his head at that. This was all so much to deal with.  
  
"So where are we going next?", Joshua asked.  
  
Julia looked toward Leo, who smiled and nodded. "Well, I think your doctor has a surprise for you," she said. "Let's head off to Deck 15."  
  
They traveled up and down the ship until they were back in the primary hull. Several meters away from one lift exit were slide doors and a control panel beside them. "Computer, access code Andreys Alpha Bravo Charlie. Access Joshua program."  
  
The doors slid open and they stepped in.  
  
Jerry looked on in stunned surprise to what was inside. They stepped through the door and into a lush park, with flora from dozens of worlds in the Inner Sphere gathered around. In the distance was a towering palace. The Marik family insignia, doubling as the insignia of the Free Worlds League, was prominent on the face of the structure.  
  
"The Interstellar Botanical Gardens!" Joshua said with gleeful surprise. "How did we get here?"  
  
"We didn't," Julia answered. "This is one of our main holodecks. We can use hard-light, forcefields, and replicators to mimic any environment."  
  
Joshua continued to stare past them to the simulated environment. At his prompting his anti-grav chair was moved closer in. "It's just like I remember," the boy remarked. Tears started to flow down his face.  
  
"This is simply amazing," Jerry insisted. "This technology is beyond anything the NAIS is dreaming up."  
  
"I'm sure we'll help you reach for that dream," Julia said. "Did your parents ever take you for picnics here, Joshua?"  
  
Joshua, silenced by his continuing surprise at the holodeck's capabilities, nodded.  
  
"Well, time to get everything together then." Julia looked to Leo with a grin. "Doctor, you're the health expert. Would you like to do the honors and make sure we're eating right?"  
  
Leo smiled back at her. "Well, Commander, if you insist. I was going to have Hargert make his lunch."  
  
"Hargert?", Jerry asked.  
  
"He's a civilian working in our ship lounge," Julia clarified. "With replicators we don't have the galleys that other space-faring ships might use, but we do have the lounge for people who want to eat non-replicated food or personal recipes. I hope you are fans of sausage stew."  
  
"I'll let him know where we are now," Leo said.

 

 

 

The day's discussions were generally over. With some freedom to explore the Davion palace, Robert had made his way to a balcony overlooking Avalon City. The view was a decent one, showing the skyline of the Commonwealth capital (or co-capital, given the data showing Tharkad City on Tharkad also had capital status). The city below bustled with activity.  
  
"Are you enjoying the view?"  
  
Robert turned. Victor had stepped out onto the balcony as well. "I'd say so," Robert admitted. "This is quite a city you've got."  
  
"It is." Victor had a bemused expression on his face. "It is an irony of my life that my subjects associate me with my father's family so much. I was raised on my mother's homeworld."  
  
"Which explains the German," Robert mused.

" _Ja_." Victor drew in a breath. "But these are still my people. I have to protect them. Defend them."  
  
Robert nodded. "Every time I meet President Morgan, I think about how stressful his life is compared to mine. I'm responsible for over a thousand lives. He has that toward trillions."  
  
"Emissary Willoughby has spoken of your President to some length," Victor revealed. "I look forward to meeting him one day. He sounds like a fine man."  
  
"One of the best I've ever met," Robert admitted. "Sometimes he reminds me of my grandfather."  
  
Victor nodded. "I never knew my grandfathers."  
  
"My condolences." Robert turned and faced Victor. "I suppose you have it even worse than President Morgan."

"By all accounts, your Alliance has a larger population and all of the difficulties of republican government, so how do you think that?"  
  
Robert grinned slightly at that. "For that reason, actually. Or rather, because of something we have called 'term limits'."  
  
Victor chuckled. "Ah. I believe I understand. Your leader will one day be ineligible for re-election. And so he will move on and be free of the burdens of statesmanship. I, on the other hand, don't have that luxury. Short of abdication, anyway."  
  
There was something in the way he said that which made it sound like a completely unthinkable act. "Well, with no kids, one of your siblings would take over, right?"  
  
"My sister Katherine. Or 'Katrina', as she likes to be called now."  
  
There was a hint of something in Victor's voice. Robert could feel it too. As if that outcome was something he could never allow to happen. Feelings about his sister that were steeped in distrust and uncertainty. "Your grandmother's name?"  
  
"She wants to emulate her. And my mother. And my Lyran subjects love her, so I left her as my regent on Tharkad while I rule here for a time."  
  
Victor was clearly trying not to think of other things. And Robert was hardly sensitive enough to get the full range of his emotions, just that continued distrust… and bitter anger.  
  
When he spoke again, Victor asked, "What do you think of us, Captain?"  
  
A change of subject. One Robert was happy to indulge in. He thought on his answer. "Well, we seem close in temperament, at least by what I'm used to," he stated. "I can't help but notice the love of Arthurian imagery here."  
  
"It's part of our culture," Victor explained. "The ideals of chivalry and justice. We are supposed to protect our people and rule with wisdom, justice, and mercy. All in a framework that is supposed to be the most democratic in the Inner Sphere."  
  
"But I can't help but notice that it leans toward the militant," Robert continued. "Was it like this before your Succession Wars?"  
  
That drew a bemused snort from Prince Victor. "That would depend, Captain, on which historian or sociologist you ask."  
  
"Ah." Robert nodded. "Well, I can sympathize with those ideals."

"And what of your own, Captain?", Victor asked. "What ideals govern you?"  
  
"I believe in helping people," Robert answered. "I'm out here to help people who are facing things they can't face alone and to protect the weak from those who would abuse them with their strength. I know it sounds naive, but that's how I feel. Because might cannot make right. It never has and never will. Instead I believe in using might for right." He gauged Victor's interested reaction for a moment before finishing with, "And I believe in keeping other people from suffering whenever I can. Because I know what it's like to hurt. To be hurt. I don't want other people to feel the same pain I have. That's why I do this job. I've dedicated myself to this, ever since I got the Darglan technology to make it possible."  
  
Victor went silent for several moments. He looked back out at the city. Robert did as well. "Well put," the ruler of the Federated Commonwealth said, breaking the silence between them.  
  
"And what about you?", Robert asked him.  
  
Victor seemed to consider the question. Robert could feel a subtle tension within him. "I've learned the ideals don't always fit with the demands of my position," he finally said. "As for what I believe in… My father had ambitions to leading the Inner Sphere directly, and he acted to fulfill those ambitions. Sometimes he did the right thing. Sometimes he didn't. Either way, I loved and respected him, and I still look to his example as a ruler."  
  
Robert turned and looked at the distant expression on Victor's face as the other man seemed to go back into deep thought. "Sometimes it feels like I should be just like him. That is the way to be successful. But if I were to be honest, I don't feel the same way he does. I am the son of Hanse Davion, but I didn't get his ambition. My ambition doesn't go so far. I want to be an honest ruler and to protect my subjects, to protect the whole Inner Sphere, from the forces that want to harm them. Father wanted to be First Lord of a reborn Star League. I want an Inner Sphere free from the Clan threat so that we can rebuild from the Succession Wars. I would be content to lead the Federated Commonwealth and Inner Sphere into an age of peace and quiet. No wars of honor, no glorious expansion by our BattleMech regiments, just peace between all the Houses." His expression grew distant. "But I've found rulers don't have the luxury of ruling by their ideals. We have to deal with the reality of our situation. Justice and compassion have to be put aside. We must do things… we would rather not do, or not do things we would rather do. And that's when I have to look to my father's example."  
  
Robert nodded at that. "It's not always so cut-and-dried out there," he admitted. "Sometimes there's nothing we can do, not without making the problem worse." An old voice came back into Robert's memory, full of dignity and time-earned experience. "Captain Picard - a Starfleet captain I know, the Starfleet of the United Federation of Planets that is - once told me that everything we do has consequences. Even the most heroic or noble act might cause something horrible to happen," he said. "So I understand what you mean by not being able to act on what you believe, even if I'm sure the scale is different."  
  
"Yes." Victor looked to his wrist. "I have a Privy Council meeting in twenty minutes I must prepare for. Thank you for your time, Captain."  
  
Robert nodded and smiled. "Thank you for the time, Prince."

Victor turned away to leave the balcony. As he got to the door Robert turned. "Prince Victor…", he began. This prompted Victor to look back. "I'm not sure how your security people will react to this, but I'd like to offer you and your sister a tour of the _Aurora_."  
  
Victor's thoughtful grin turned into a bit of a smirk. "I can already imagine their reaction," he confessed. The grin grew. "I'll find the time in my schedule and let you know."  
  
"Sounds good to me."  
  
The two exchanged nods. Victor entered the door and left Robert outside.  
  
He turned back to the cityscape of Avalon City and drew in a breath. Some time later he reached for his multidevice. "Dale to _Aurora_. One to beam up."  
  
The _Aurora_ 's transporter brought him home.

 

 

 

With the day almost over, Robert decided it was time to check in on their guest.  
  
He found the medbay to be quiet. It was late in Beta shift and the medical staff were finishing the day's inventory and reports for their shift. Leo was in his office when Robert got there. "So, how is our little leukemia patient?", he asked.  
  
Leo looked up from his monitor. "His body is accepting the replicated blood well enough. A few days will tell on how soon we can move to the marrow replacement. I already have the new marrow growing in the lab."  
  
"And non-medically?"  
  
Leo smirked. "Go see for yourself."  
  
"Well, if that isn't cryptic," Robert muttered to himself while stepping out of the office. He went down the medbay interior hall until he came to the isolab. The MIIO bodyguards were watching the entrance with one of Meridina's officers, a Human woman with a Mediterranean skin tone. They waved him in.  
  
Once through the interior airlock Robert was greeted by peals of laughter. Joshua was clearly in the throes of a laughing fit, with Nasri grinning knowingly and Jerry Cranston looking like he was desperately trying to not join in.  
  
Barnes was pacing near the other wall, beyond the foot of the bed. "...and of course, we couldn't go back! Because that'd be silly! So I spent the entire trip holding _it_ so bad that you could see the pee filling my eyelids! I was going to start dancing in the car! And Julia said…"  
  
"...'this is why you shouldn't drink the whole two-liter in a single sitting'," Robert finished for him, smirking. "You're _still_ milking that story, Tom?"  
  
Barnes turned and mockingly glared at him. "Hey, not cool Rob. You're _ruining_ my routine."  
  
Robert looked to the others. "He's being hyper-active again isn't he? I'm going to have to talk to Hargert about reducing his sugar intake."  
  
Joshua giggled at that. "How many more stories do you have, Mister Barnes?"  
  
"A lot, but most are things I can't tell you yet, Josh. You're not old enough. Your dad would probably want me flogged or whatever it is Inner Sphere nobles do to commoners who tick them off."  
  
"This isn't exactly the Middle Ages, Tom," Robert reminded him. "Odds are he'd just sue you."  
  
"Yeah, and I ain't made of money."  
  
"Why do people say I'm too young to know things?", Joshua asked.  
  
"Because that's what good parents tell their kids," Barnes answered. "Otherwise their kids end up as foul-mouthed buttholes who decide to become engineers and can't stop making fun of everything."  
  
Robert chuckled at that. "Well, there are tradeoffs."  
  
Barnes gave him an appreciative look before turning his attention back to Joshua. "Anyway, kid, it's been fun, but I've got to vamoose. I've got a lot of work to do so that the lights stay on and we don't all float out of our beds." He walked up to the bed and extended his hand. "Put 'er there." After the smiling young man accepted the handshake, Barnes extended his finger. "Now give it a pull."  
  
Robert did a half-facepalm at that. _Tom, your sense of humor needs_ work, he thought.  
  
Joshua was a prince of the highest Inner Sphere royalty… but he was also of that adolescent age when flatulence was still a tremendous source of humor. He gladly grabbed Barnes' finger and yanked at it.  
  
Instead of the expected, however, Barnes let out a loud, long, soda-fueled belch. Joshua erupted in a giggling fit at the subversion of the normal "pull my finger" route. "Oh man, I've been holding that one," Barnes declared. "Thanks for helping me get it out."  
  
"You're welcome, Mister Barnes," Joshua replied.  
  
"See you later, kid." Barnes stepped away. He winked at Robert before exiting the room.  
  
"I hope he hasn't offended anyone," Robert sighed. "Tom's sense of humor is pretty immature."  
  
"No offense was taken," Jerry assured him. He was allowing himself a wider grin now. "I'm not one for crude humor, but there's something in the delivery that makes it pretty funny."  
  
"Tom has his ways with being humorous," Robert responded. "Do you need quarters, Mister Cranston?"  
  
"I'll be fine." Jerry waved off his remark. He indicated a bedding roll nearby. "I'll be fine in here."  
  
"If that's your wish." Robert looked to Joshua. "How'd you like our ship, Joshua?"  
  
"It's amazing!", Joshua insisted. "It's so big and there's so much stuff in it! And you've got aliens! Aliens made of jello!"  
  
"Ah." Robert looked to Jerry Cranston. "I see you met Doctor Ke'mani'pala."  
  
"We did. I'm not sure Victor will believe me when I tell him about her… it is 'her', right?"  
  
"Well, the Gl'mulli are genderless gelatinous beings," Robert pointed out. "But I think it was agreed that 'she' can work since they can all have children." He looked back to Joshua. "So you had a pretty active day then?"  
  
"And you can make places out of thin air," Joshua continued. "Miss Andreys remade the Interstellar Botanical Gardens for me!"  
  
"So you've seen the holodeck as well." Robert grinned at that. "I'm glad to see you're enjoying your time aboard so much, Joshua. The important thing is to get you better, of course."  
  
"I'm already feeling better," Joshua insisted. And then he yawned. "Although I'm still tired."  
  
The door out of the isolab opened. Leo stepped in and looked at everyone. "Alright, it's time for Joshua to get some rest," he said. "Everyone out."  
  
Robert nodded and walked through the door first, joined by Nasri. Jerry started to set up his cot.  
  
On the outside, Robert waited until Leo emerged, carrying a tube of blood with him. "I have to make sure that the blood cell count is staying up," he explained pre-emptively.  
  
"Hey, this is your field," Robert answered. He looked back to the door. "So he's really doing better?"  
  
"For the moment, he's got more energy at least." There was something in Leo's look that made Robert think there was more to it. "But time will still tell, Rob. Joshua's leukemia was terminal when I got to him. The blast cells, that is, the malformed white blood cells caused by his condition, had already made it into his central nervous system and were damaging it. And that's not going into the damage in his cardiovascular system and the potential for internal hemorrhaging. Recovering from that damage will take more than replicated blood, but at the same time, I have to make sure his body is strong enough for the surgery."  
  
"You're not cutting him open though, right?", Robert asked.  
  
"Not unless absolutely necessary," Leo confirmed. "But the body is still traumatized when you go in with matter-transporters to scoop out diseased tissue. That's why I need the replicated blood transfusions to go on for a few more days, at least. I need to get his organs and CNS back to functional levels and build up some resilience in his body before I put it through that strain."  
  
"I understand." Robert clapped Leo on the shoulder. "I know you can get this done, alright?"  
  
Leo's expression was sardonic. "Oh? Because I figured you and Julia were both preparing an intervention so I don't lose sight of how it might go wrong."  
  
"Right now that doesn't seem necessary. You know it can. But I know you're dedicated to it working."  
  
Leo looked back into the iso-unit. Through the window he could see Joshua settling into sleep. "Damn right I am," he answered. "Damn right."

 

 

 

Victor had never seen his little sister so excited.  
  
Yvonne had pulled her red hair into a simplified ponytail and donned a brilliant orange and ice-blue blouse and dress. Victor was in uniform, befitting the official visit he was about to make. A representative from the New Avalon News Service would be joining them to report on the visit to the press, hopefully giving the populace some satisfaction in their hunger for more details about the United Alliance of Systems.  
  
"Yvonne, if you continue to vibrate, I'm worried you'll drill through the ferrocrete," Victor teased.  
  
Yvonne gave him a look. "Victor, why aren't you excited about this?! Have you seen the holo-images of that ship? There's been nothing like it before! Not even during the Star League! And we're going to get a tour of her!"  
  
Victor nodded and said nothing more. The truth was he didn't want his sister's enthusiasm to become that dampened anyway. After everything they'd lost - their parents' deaths and Peter secluding himself in a monastery - the chance to see her happy like this was heartwarming.  
  
Less heartwarming was the brooding presence to Victor's left. Curaitis rarely showed his emotions. But right now he had a definite scowl. As anticipated, he had _not_ been happy with Victor's acceptance of Captain Dale's generous offer.  
  
"This is an unacceptable security risk," Curaitis said. "You and Yvonne together, sir? You should leave her behind, or send her only."  
  
"Now what kind of message would that send, Curaitis?", Victor replied. "We've been invited and accepted. Something like that would be a smack across the face."  
  
"We still don't know everything about the Alliance, sir." Curaitis wasn't giving up. "You're putting yourself and your sister in harm's way by doing this. If they held you hostage they could paralyze the entire Commonwealth." It was clear from Curaitis' expression that the unspoken addition to that sentence was " _And give Katherine a clear opening to seize power for herself_ ".  
  
"A good point," Victor conceded. He looked to Curaitis. They were keeping their voices low so that the journalist, busy as he was conversing with his bosses, didn't hear them. "By the way, have our scientists at NAIS found any way to block their matter-transporters?"  
  
Curaitis' scowl becoming a frown was the answer he saw coming.  
  
"So this really doesn't matter, does it?", Victor said. "If they wanted to abduct me and Yvonne and cripple the Commonwealth, there's not a damn thing we can do to stop them."  
  
"No, sir, there is not."  
  
"Good to know we're on the same page." Victor nodded to him. "I appreciate your efforts, Curaitis. You're a good and loyal man and I rely upon your advice, even when I don't follow it. But there are times when you have to let the paranoia go and try a higher road."  
  
"So Your Highness has said."  
  
The pilot for Victor's personal shuttle stepped out of it and gave them a thumbs up. It was time to go.

 

 

 

In the _Aurora_ 's fighter landing deck, Robert's command crew had turned out in dress uniform for the arrival of Victor and Yvonne. A Marine honor guard bore the Federated Commonwealth flag at ready position and held it in place as the shuttle came in for the landing. The Commonwealth pilot added to the occasion with as perfect a landing as could be had. Tractor beam emitters helped bring it to a stop right on target. Curaitis stepped out first with two of Victor's bodyguards, after which Victor and his sister disembarked. The ship's speakers played the Commonwealth anthem and the honor guard stood to attention.  
  
Robert was two steps forward of most of the others, with Julia at his side. "Your Highness," he said formally. "Welcome aboard the _Aurora_. It's our privilege and honor to have you."  
  
"The privilege is mine, Captain."  
  
"This ship is beyond anything I might have dreamed," Yvonne added. "I am eager to see more of it."  
  
"That will be my pleasure, Your Highness."  
  
Aside from Leo and Meridina the Commonwealth visitors had not met the others. Robert turned to Julia. "This is Commander Julia Andreys, my First Officer. Commander Jarod, Second Officer and Ship's Operations Officer. Commander Montgomery Scott, Chief Engineer, and his lead Assistant Chief Engineer Lieutenant Thomas Barnes. Lieutenant Commander Patrice Laurent, Wing Command Officer. I believe you already know Commander Meridina." Meridina tilted her head slightly and nodded at Victor as they passed. "Marine Commander Carter Kane. Lieutenant Angela Delgado, Tactical Officer and Lieutenant Caterina Delgado, Science Officer. Lieutenant Nicholas Locarno, Navigation Officer."  
  
One by one Victor and Yvonne greeted each of them. Caterina stood out from the others as she, as usual, had opted for the dress uniform skirt and not the trousers like her sister and Julia had.  
  
"It is a pleasure to meet you all," Victor stated. He looked to Robert. "They're not all coming, are they?"  
  
"They're just here for your arrival," Robert replied. "Although we'll be seeing them as we continue the tour, running their departments."  
  
"Of course." Victor now clearly noted the one absent officer. "Where is Doctor Gillam?"  
  
It was Julia who answered. Her demeanor struck Victor as being the closest to his view of an officer in dress uniform - clearly uncomfortable in the uniform and even better at hiding it, compared to the visible dislike most of the other officers showed for their own. "He is currently in the medbay tending to Joshua Marik," she explained. "He has to go over lab results and see if the replicated blood in Joshua's body is working right."

"Of course," Victor said. "I understand. I hope to visit Joshua myself, actually. At the end of the tour."  
  
"I'm sure we can arrange that," Robert promised. "As for the tour, after some discussion we decided to move from stern to bow given our location. If you'll follow me, Highnesses, we'll start with an inspection of Commander Laurent's craft."

 

 

 

In the medbay's lab space, Leo looked over the latest test results from Joshua. "Medical log update on patient Joshua Marik. Tests drawn at 1200 15 March 2642. Blast cell count has dropped to manageable levels. Red blood cell count is at sufficient levels. White blood cells are still on the low side. Raise cell ratio in next replication batch by…" He considered the figure and thought about the necessary adjustment in his head. He swirled about the small container of Joshua's blood as he thought. "...ten percent. Organ damage from low oxygen count still present but is not growing. Damage to central nervous system is still present and is primary concern. Propose that when patient finishes bone marrow replacement procedure, nerve regrowth therapy and procedures be scheduled."  
  
He turned and put the blood sample back up. Around him displays showed various other results from the various tests that the _Aurora_ crew underwent for whatever reason. On some occasions there could be two or even three doctors or nurse-specialists in the room running their own tests on the multitude of equipment. The soft confirmation beeping from the hard-light control displays was incessant when this was true. But right now he was alone with his test results and nothing else.  
  
There was a knocking sound at the lab entrance. He turned and faced Nasri. She looked at him with concern. "Is everything alright?", she asked.  
  
"We're doing about as good as we can," Leo answered. "We'll need to adjust the white blood cell count in his next batch of replicated blood. Ten percent higher."  
  
"I'll order that adjustment." Nasri stepped up to him. "But I am more concerned about you."  
  
"Oh." Leo returned her look and finally sighed. "I know, everyone's worried about me. All I can say is that I know what I'm doing."  
  
"That I do not doubt. I simply worry about what might happen if things do not go according to your desires."  
  
"I'm prepared for that," Leo answered. "A couple of months, Nasri. That's the difference here. If I'd gotten to Joshua two months ago nothing would be in doubt."  
  
"Unfortunately, we're not always in time." Nasri set a hand on his shoulder, a gesture of familiarity he was okay with. "I have known you, Leonard, since the day you treated my injuries after your friends lifted me from the hell of my homeland. I have always valued and admired your deep compassion and devotion to saving life. I do not wish to see you hurt."  
  
"Don't worry about me," he insisted. "I know this could still go wrong." He checked the time and grumbled. "Dammit. Prince Victor and his sister are aboard, they'll be by soon on their tour. How do I look?"  
  
Nasri smiled thinly. "Like a committed physician tending to a dangerously-ill patient."  
  
Leo winced. "That bad?"  
  
That caused an amused giggle to come from Nasri. "I have set aside a change of uniform and shaving equipment in the medbay shower facilities, Doctor." She made a show of checking the time on her multidevice. "I think you might have time to change."  
  
Leo replied to her with a smile. "Thank you, Nasri. I owe you one."  
  
"You owe me several, Doctor," Nasri reminded him. "But I don't count them."  
  
"That's why you're my favorite nurse," he declared before heading off.

 

 

 

Robert didn't let himself laugh.  
  
It was harder than he thought it'd be.  
  
The look on the faces of Victor and Yvonne defined stunned surprise. Whatever mental training they had in controlling their reactions to be proper nobles, it had been overcome by the sight before them.  
  
The cyan gumdrop-shaped form walked slightly toward them. "Walked", at least, since it was more like twin stubby bits on the bottom of Ke'mani'pala to make traction easier for the Gl'mulli scientist. Her audio translator moved about, directed toward them like a pale blue electronic eye.  
  
"This allows Gl'mulli to communicate with us and see us," Caterina was explaining. Her usual shyness was restrained by her enthusiasm for the science she was explaining. "They don't see light or speak like we do. They sense electromagnetic fields and heat sources and can feel minute compounds. They're the most natural microbiologists in known space."  
  
"So it, she, can talk to us?", Yvonne asked.  
  
A blush appeared on Cat's face. "Oh, yes! I'm so sorry, I should…" She looked to Ke'mani'pala. "I'm sorry, Ke. I should have let you explain."  
  
"Oh, it is of no concern! You are always so excited to speak of us, Caterina," the Gl'mulli remarked. Her voice was a warbling, mechanical tone through the translator. "It is quite endearing." The translator directed itself back to Robert. "Thank you Captain. I do so appreciate meeting new Humans. I'm still getting used to the way you signal others."  
  
"You're welcome, Doctor." Robert nodded to her.  
  
"'Signal' others?" Again, the question was from Yvonne.  
  
"She means body language and verbal communication," Caterina explained. "Gl'mulli communicate with electromagnetic signals between each other, or by melding themselves together to share thoughts and experiences or to, um…"  
  
Electronic trilling came from the translator. Robert recognized it as the Gl'mulli equivalent of giggling or chuckling. "It is how we exchange genetic information to spawn," Ke'mani'pala announced. "Not every time we meld, mind you."  
  
"So that's how you have… babies."  
  
"Yes, Princess Yvonne. That is how we produce spawnlings. It is so amusing to us that other species get so… awkward about it." There was more trilling. "I think it has to do with how you experience sensation? It creates some sort of social… 'baggage' is a term I believe you use? Social expectation, perhaps. Our people spawn when we believe it is time to bring new life into the world. We attach no physical pleasure to the act."  
  
"Unlike Humans and Dorei and a number of other species," Caterina noted. Her cheeks were pink. " _Moving on…_ " She ignored the renewed trilling from Ke'mani'pala. "...I did want to show you something interesting concerning your method of interstellar travel."  
  
"I have embarrassed the poor Lieutenant," the Gl'mulli remarked. "But I agree, it is time to move on. I have a delicate experiment back in my own lab that must be attended!" The Gl'mulli departed for the far door.  
  
Robert was fighting to keep a smile off his face while Cat led them over to a main display. This was Science Lab 2, so physics experiments and simulations were among the things practiced by its staff.  
  
"I'm afraid I'm not an expert on Kearny-Fuchida Drives," Victor confessed.  
  
Caterina shrugged. "I was sure of that. This is some pretty advanced quantum mechanics, actually, involving hyperspatial subspace…. A lot of big words, it involves a lot of big words." Caterina pointed to a series of oscillating waves. "These are the Groenitz-Hallen bands of subspace. This display," she pointed to one of the waves, "shows the ripples caused when your drives make a jump. These…" She pointed to another. "...come from using jump drives built by a Human civilization called the Colonies of Kobol, and the machine race they built called the Cylons." She looked back to the two Commonwealth royals. "Now, do you see this?"  
  
Yvonne nodded. "They look similar."  
  
"Exactly!" Caterina was grinning widely as she turned back. "The ripple effect in subspace is proportionally the same. The only difference seems to be a reflection of the hyperspatial bands that are accessed." She pointed to a third, showing a much more active wave. "These ripples are from Goa'uld hyperdrives when they open a hyperspace window. Now, these ships access very deep bands of hyperspace, and it looks like one cost of this access is that they don't make jumps but travel through hyperspace. Much like ships from E5B1 do. Hyperspatial jump drives, like those used by you and by the Kobolians and Cylons, access more shallow bands… higher bands, I guess, though that's not very accurate… anyway, this correlation does mean that your drives could potentially be modified to access the deeper hyperspace bands. It remains to be seen if…"  
  
Robert's multidevice let off a tone. A message popped up on the holographic screen.  
  
 _Jarod here. I need to see you ASAP._  
  
With everyone looking at him, Robert smiled sadly. "Being a starship captain can be a pain," he said. "But if Jarod needs to see me then it's fairly urgent. Cat, mind taking over the tour?"  
  
"Well… sure, I mean, what's left for them to see?"  
  
"The Science Labs, and the Lookout if they're hungry," Robert replied. "And if they want to go to the bridge, I'm fine with it. My apologies, Prince Victor, Princess Yvonne, I'll meet back up with you as soon as I can."  
  
"Of course, Captain," Victor said. "We all have our duties."  
  
"Okay." Cat nodded and looked back to Victor and Yvonne while Robert went for the door. "Anyway, the key issue is the method of accessing the right hyperspace band without generating excessive…"

 

 

 

Leo and Jarod had been waiting for Robert in the main conference room off the bridge. Jarod had his findings. And Leo had confirmed them.  
  
Robert looked at Jarod with a cold expression. "Are you sure?", was what he finally said.  
  
Jarod nodded. "The records check out. And the holo is authentic."  
  
The holo in question was displayed over the main table, as if to be used for a briefing. It showed an emaciated child in a wheelchair at what looked to be a public fundraiser event, with the date on the video showing that it had only been a couple months before. And to Robert's eye, the child looked very much like Joshua Marik.  
  
And Leo had just told him it couldn't be Joshua.  
  
"So you're telling me that Victor has had a double of Joshua running around for months?", Robert asked.  
  
"The evidence fits the theory," Jarod answered. "Leo and I are in agreement that there's no way Joshua could have been there."  
  
"His condition was too severe," Leo added. He seemed more perturbed than Robert. "He was in a coma before my initial treatment at NAIS woke him up."  
  
"Additionally, it would explain why NAIS' oncology division was so completely reshuffled," Jarod continued. "As Leo noted in the paperwork. Virtually every doctor or nurse who dealt with Joshua over the years was transferred out over the course of several months last year. Doctor Harper is the only physician whose name appears repeatedly in the paperwork over the last fourteen months."  
  
Robert leaned against the table. He kept looking at the holo and wondering about it. He tried to focus, to see if his life force connection to the universe, that sense of the future that gave him dreams so often, would give him insight into the situation.

But it wasn't that which convinced him. It was Jarod's insistence. It made too much sense. The evidence was all in place. "Wasn't that sloppy of them?", he finally said. "Did they really think we wouldn't find this out?"  
  
"Maybe they imagined we'd never feel the need to look." Jarod hit a key and turned the holo off. "Given that there was no more public news about Joshua as of a few weeks ago, maybe someone changed their mind. I don't have enough information to tell me either way."  
  
"Right." Robert clenched his fists while using them to still lean on the table. His knuckles briefly protested the extra strain. "Mister Jarod, I don't want a report on this filed yet."  
  
"It's still incomplete, I have a few finishing touches to put on it."  
  
Leo stepped up and stared Robert in the face. "What are you going to do, Robert? Something like this… how can we trust these people if they'll stoop to something like this?"  
  
"Let me worry about that in my report, Leo," Robert replied softly. "For now, focus on caring for Joshua. Nothing's changed about that."  
  
"Of course." Leo nodded. "Let me know if you need anything."  
  
Robert nodded wordlessly. His thoughts were still trying to deal with what had just been revealed. He looked to Jarod again and nodded his head toward the bridge. "Go ahead. Assume your command watch."  
  
"Alright. If you need anything else…" Jarod waited for him to answer. After five seconds of no answer, he departed the conference room.  
  
For about a minute Robert simply stood there. Was his judgement about these people wrong? Was Victor something nastier than he'd felt him to be?  
  
He could report this to Maran and Morgan and let it go. Allow his superiors to make those judgements. Perhaps analysts would figure out what was going on. It would certainly color Morgan's approach to the Federated Commonwealth. And if there was a leak in his administration, if word got out and a press investigation corroborated this…  
  
 _It could cause a war. It would definitely break any of Prince Victor's hopes of unifying the Inner Sphere against the Clan invaders. Do I really want that to happen? Does the Alliance want something like to happen? When there's so much we and the Inner Sphere can do for each other if they remain at peace?_  
  
But was it his place to simply cover up something like this? To not report it to his superiors? He had obligations to them as well, and if the Commonwealth couldn't be trusted to deal fairly…  
  
Robert realized what time it was. He knew what he had to do.  
  
His hand went to his multidevice.  
  
"Dale to Caterina Delgado," he said.  
  
After a few moments, a response came. " _Delgado here._ "  
  
"Inform Prince Victor that once the tour's over, I would like a word with him in my ready office."  
  
" _I'll let him know. We were getting ready to come up to the bridge for the tour now._ "  
  
"Good. Tell him I'll be waiting for him when he's done on the bridge. Dale out."

 

 

 

The wait before Victor arrived in Robert's office had given Robert time to think over things. Jarod's report was thorough, and the evidence convincing. With a touch of a button, he could send the entire report off to Portland and to the eyes of Maran and Morgan.  
  
It felt incomplete, though. This was something… it had to be _explained_. Victor's people had put a double into place, and then allowed him and his crew access to the original, making the entire thing a waste. Why? Jarod had theories, he had theories… but he wanted to know.  
  
The long-awaited chime at the door went off. "Come in," Robert called out. The door promptly opened to permit Victor entry. "Captain?", he asked. "I appreciate the chance to see your marvelous vessel. It's a work of art."  
  
"I've often felt so," Robert admitted. He looked to Victor and knew his neutral expression wasn't hiding his discomfort. "I… have something to discuss with you, Prince Victor. If you'll step fully in and allow the door to close? This requires privacy. You can select a chair if you'd like."  
  
Victor nodded and fully entered the office. He moved without undue rush, finding a comfortable seat in one of the chairs opposite Robert's desk chair. "What is wrong, Captain?"  
  
Robert reached over and hit a key on his controls. A small holo-projector on his desk displayed, for Victor's benefit, the video of Joshua Marik at the fundraiser. Victor recognized it as the Marik Refugee Relief Fund public event from before the New Year, put on by the Marik diplomatic representatives on New Avalon to raise funds for House Marik's humanitarian support of refugees displaced by the Clans. The timestamp, and its AST counterpart, were prominent in the corner. Victor watched the video for the ten seconds Robert played it. He was confused initially. But Robert thought he could sense a gradual realization come over him.  
  
"That was taken just nine weeks ago," Robert said. "Commander Jarod double-checked the scheduling for the MRRF. And according to Jarod and Doctor Gillam, it is impossible for Joshua to have been there."  
  
Victor paled slightly.  
  
"Someone gutted NAIS' oncology department over the course of the prior calendar year," Robert continued. "Many of its leading physicians and researchers were re-assigned to other facilities and other worlds. Going by the medical records for Joshua, the transfers of everyone who had been involved in his treatment started around the point the leukemia cells started affecting his central nervous system. In short… once his condition was, by your science, irrevocably terminal."  
  
Robert put his hands together on the desk. As much as he tried to keep his expression neutral, he couldn't keep his disappointment off his face. He thought he'd met something of a kindred spirit in Victor, a man who shared his ideals. It hurt to think that his sense had been wrong. That he'd nearly placed such trust and respect into a man capable of something so terrible.  
  
"You were planting a double."  
  
Victor nodded. "Yes."  
  
"You were going to let Joshua Marik die of his illness while a double pretended to be him, still living. You were going to trick Thomas Marik into thinking his son was still alive."  
  
"Yes."  
  
There was silence between the two of them. The admissions had been frank and painful. Robert could feel the guilt and shame all wrapped up with a defiant sense of necessity. It wasn't often that he wished his "gifts", his life force connection to the universe, was stronger, but this was one such time. He needed to know more.  
  
Before he could ask anything else, Victor continued on his own. "There's no point in hiding it. Once I decided to seek your help in saving Joshua, I knew Gemini, this plan, was hopelessly compromised and might be revealed. I was simply hoping it might not come up. That the plan would simply be allowed to fade away on its own."  
  
Robert could sense the truth in that statement. Or, at least, that for the moment Victor was believing it was true.  
  
"You know the political background, Captain. But perhaps you don't know Sun-Tzu as well as we do," Victor continued. "He is ruthless and determined. The moment Joshua was dead he would have pressed his suit with Isis Marik. And he would have used that influence to begin a plan to attack us."  
  
"So you were going to keep Joshua 'alive'... forever?"  
  
"No. That wouldn't work. Only long enough for the Commonwealth to finish its own retooling of industry. Once we were ready for the threat, Joshua's death would have been announced. His remains would have been taken out of cryogenic preservation and delivered to his father." Victor drew in a pained breath. "I'm not proud. I never wanted to implement Gemini. I did what I thought I had to."  
  
"And then your people contacted us."  
  
Victor made eye contact with Robert. His bright blue eyes locked onto Robert's without wavering. "When I realized what your people could do… when Emissary Willoughby talked about how easily you could cure Joshua's condition, I knew what I had to do. I couldn't let Joshua Marik die. Not if his life could actually be saved."  
  
"Because his survival benefits the Commonwealth?", Robert asked.  
  
"I would be lying, Captain, if I claimed that thought didn't enter my mind. Jerry has often told me that Joshua surviving would be of great benefit to us. That his childhood spent here would help make him a sympathetic Captain-General when he succeeded his father." Victor shook his head. "But even if it didn't benefit us… I still want him to live. Maybe some rulers, maybe even my father, could have condemned a ten year old boy to die, but I _can't_."  
  
Again Robert could sense the emotional sincerity of those words. Not with the clarity Meridina or Lucy would have, he was still working on that, but Victor would have to be one hell of an actor to fool him. And nothing he'd seen of the Commonwealth Archon-Prince seemed to indicate he was capable of that kind of acting.  
  
 _But I didn't think he could trick a worried father and family either, did I?_  
  
"What do you intend to do, Captain?", Victor asked.  
  
That was the bitter question Robert faced. As much as he wanted to be guided by his ideals, he faced his own practical problems. Revealing the double plot had deep ramifications for the Inner Sphere, which in turn meant ramifications for the Alliance.  
  
But he was just a starship captain. The one on the scene, perhaps, but it would be President Morgan who made the ultimate decisions on Alliance policies.  
  
 _Decisions that, in some way, are influenced by my findings_. As that thought came to Robert, he realized that his responsibility for the Alliance was greater than he had contemplated before. What he reported would in turn influence President Morgan. That was a powerful and dangerous thing.  
  
 _So what do I do?_ he asked himself. _What do I tell them?_  
  
"I'm still deciding, Prince," Robert answered him. "Thank you for being honest. Whatever happens, I'll remember that."  
  
There was only a slight lifting of the somber expression on the Archon-Prince's face. Robert could not blame him. This arrival of the Alliance into the Inner Sphere would change everything. And he had just given the leadership of the Alliance a strong reason not to trust him, which could have terrible ramifications for his entire Commonwealth.  
  
Victor checked the military watch. "I have to return home now. I'm due for a meeting tonight."  
  
"Of course," Robert answered.  
  
"Please, if you need anything, or if Joshua's condition changes…"  
  
"I'll let you know," Robert assured him.  
  
There were no more words. Robert watched quietly as the dejected man walked out of his office. He suspected he looked little better than Victor did now.  
  
He turned in his chair and looked out at the stars. He was deep in thought. So deep that he lost track of time.  
  
He was jolted back to attention by the door chime. He looked back and called out, "Come in".  
  
He'd expected it to be Julia, wanting to know why he hadn't escorted Victor and Yvonne back to their shuttle. But instead it was Meridina. "I sense you are troubled," the Gersallian woman said. She was in standard duty uniform, the olive brown trim color of ship security joined by the primary black color of the uniform.  
  
"I am," he admitted. "The Commonwealth did something that could jeopardize our future relationship. And now I have to decide what to do with my information."  
  
"Oh?" Meridina slipped into a seat. "What is your dilemma, Robert?"  
  
Robert hesitated. Leo and Jarod already knew. Telling more people would theoretically make it harder to keep the secret.  
  
But at the same time, he trusted Meridina. And her insights would be valuable.  
  
So he told her.

 

 

 

At Victor's request, Jerry Cranston had rejoined him for the flight back down to New Avalon. The MIIO bodyguards had remained behind to continue watching Joshua.  
  
Once they were back in the palace and safely in Victor's office with Curaitis, Victor turned to him and said, "Dale knows."  
  
Jerry's face fell. "Gemini?"  
  
"Yes. His operations officer found the Marik Refugee Relief fundraiser holo while looking through the planetary database for social videos."  
  
"Or he was hunting for something in the first place." Curaitis shook his head.  
  
Victor held his tongue. Curaitis' advice was valuable, even if it was his paranoia and distrust that had led to this in the first place. Insulting him wouldn't fix any of this.  
  
"Did Captain Dale say what the Alliance response would be?"  
  
"He isn't sure himself. I don't think he is. I think he was testing my response to their knowledge." Victor collapsed into his office chair and pulled open the collar of his uniform.  
  
"I have a backup plan in place, sir, for this eventuality," Curaitis said. "Evidence and indications of Capellan _Maskirovka_ plans to murder Joshua. It would be simple to claim Gemini was implemented to protect Joshua from these assassins."  
  
"So on top of misleading Thomas Marik about his son's condition, I'll also look like a heartless man who put an innocent child up as bait," Victor pointed out.  
  
"You created uncertainty to make it harder for assassins to strike either," Curaitis proposed.  
  
"Somehow I doubt the scandalvids will see the distinction."  
  
Jerry's comment made Victor's mood darker. As if he hadn't taken enough of a beating from them. Now Gemini, if it got out, would make all of their other charges look authentic.  
  
 _I knew this might happen_ , he thought to himself. _I knew and I made my choice anyway. Joshua Marik deserves the extra chance to live._  
  
Now all he could do was wait and see what consequences his choice had.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The peace of the Inner Sphere is in Leo's hands when he is asked to save the life of a terminally-ill prince.

Meridina did not speak when Robert finished explaining everything. She kept her eyes on him. He got the feeling she was waiting for him to say something else. "I'm not sure what else I should say, or need to say," he admitted.  
  
"You seem greatly troubled by this," Meridina observed. "More than one might expect. You have a decision to make, then?"  
  
"I do, yes. I have to decide whether or not telling specific details to my superiors is something I should do. Even if it means ruining our chances at getting the Commonwealth onto our side."  
  
"And you are concerned over this choice."  
  
"I want to trust Victor. I want to. But I'm not sure I can. Not now, not after this."  
  
Meridina nodded in understanding. "I understand your confidence in him has been undermined. What worries me, however, is your confidence in yourself. In your judgement."  
  
"Well, there's a lot riding on what we do. I have to make a decision and make it soon."  
  
"Have you contemplated on it?', Meridina asked. "That is the only advice I can give. Contemplate upon the question. Calm yourself and listen to what your _swevyra_ senses. I can give no other advice."  
  
Robert considered that suggestion for a moment. "So… I just let my instincts or life force or what have you decide?"  
  
"No. Let your _swevyra guide you_ , Robert. That is what it is there for."  
  
Given the insistence in her voice, Robert came to the conclusion to give it a try. He focused on his mind and tried to push the stress away. After a minute of frustration, noting Meridina's look, he thought to some of their earlier training sessions and changed the approach he was taking. Instead of focusing he simply let go. He didn't think about it. About Joshua Marik, the double plot, his disappointment with Prince Victor and his concern about the Alliance's future and the stresses of possibly shaping the President's response to this….  
  
The concerns melted away. Robert felt his mind in a state of calm and, with it, came the warmth he had learned to appreciate, the golden warmth of his life force pulsing with power. He could feel Meridina, her own life force blazing as brightly as his own, and on the bridge he could feel Jarod and Locarno and some of the others. With just a gentle thought he felt the ember of life that was Joshua Marik, still so weak from his condition, and the determination beside him that was Leo.  
  
For a moment he continued that. Beyond the _Aurora_ to the teeming life below them. He felt pulled toward the brightness emanating from the planet New Avalon. It wasn't the lights of Avalon City but the life of its denizens, all of their emotions good and ill. It was bright. So bright...  
  
_Robert._  
  
Meridina's voice came to him. It pulled him back. He was doing this for a reason, he remembered. He had to know. The double. What to do about this?  
  
The answer came to him slowly, but with certainty. A feeling deep in the warmth. He hadn't been wrong about Victor. He had felt it within him. Victor had made a mistake, a decision made under pressure and with fear. It didn't define who he was. It simply spoke to the situation he had been in.  
  
Just as Robert had once done. He too had known pressure, had known fear. The nightmares that plagued him, the pressure of a secret mission with great consequences for them all. A mistake made, a secret kept thoughtlessly, trust betrayed. A friendship nearly lost, a war, all from that mistake.  
  
33LA had been his error. This had been Victor's. The scope, the facts, had been different, but the underlying causes hadn't.  
  
Robert fixed on that connection. The shared motivations. His own impressions of the man who, at the same age, had the same relative inexperience compared to others. The true feelings about the plot that he had sensed when confronting him.  
  
For a moment of crystal clarity, he could feel what needed to be done. Deep in his bones, in his heart, in his soul, his very essence of being.  
  
Robert knew what to do now.  
  
And then, at the periphery of his thoughts, he heard something. A howl sounded in the distance. He turned and briefly saw a four-legged shadow…  
  
...and then he opened his eyes. Meridina looked at him expectantly.  
  
"Is that what it's like all the time?", Robert asked. "That flow of life, it was like it was pulling me in. And it just felt natural to me to…"  
  
"For some of us, it is indeed strong" she answered. "Your ability to find connections with others and to understand them, your… 'empathy' I believe is your language's word, makes your _swevyra_ draw upon those connections and bonds. Another _swevyra'se_ might not be so capable."  
  
He nodded in reply. "I know what I need to do now, Meridina. Thank you. I'm sorry, but I have some work to do… I'll make up my training later."  
  
She smiled gently at him. "As far as I'm concerned, Robert, this was your training for the day."  
  
"It's certainly more enjoyable than standing on my hands for twenty minutes," Robert answered with a thin smile.  
  
"We all have our own strengths and weaknesses." Meridina stood. "I shall let you apply your insights, Robert. Let me know if you need anything else."  
  
"Of course, Meridina. And…" His smile became warm. "...thank you."  
  
"You are most welcome, Robert."  
  
  
  
  
Victor had been about to retire when the call came in.  
  
Seconds later, as soon as he confirmed he was ready, a pillar of white light appeared in his office and took the form of Captain Dale.  
  
The two men, so close in age to each other, exchanged looks. Victor had a civilian-style evening robe on, showing he had been getting comfortable for the night. Robert was in the same duty uniform, but it was a basic duty uniform and not at all like the formal ones he had worn down to New Avalon before. Their relatively-casual garb gave this meeting a casual, personal air that they hadn't quite had before.  
  
"Captain," Victor said.  
  
"Prince." Robert nodded. "I wanted to let you know that I've had a chance to think about our… predicament." After a moment he switched to German. "I have made a mistake like that before. A mistake from pressure and fear."  
  
"I see." Victor got back into his seat. "And?"  
  
"I believe you are in the same place I was. Trying to do the right thing while doing the wrong thing." Robert took the seat opposite from him. "I'm prepared to tell President Morgan that the double was a Commonwealth security measure meant to protect Joshua from potentially hostile parties."  
  
Victor smirked slightly at that. "That's Curaitis' backup story if Gemini becomes public. I'm sure the scandalvids will enjoy making me out to be the monster who dangles cancer-ridden children as assassin bait."  
  
Robert chuckled softly at that. "I was actually intending to state in my report that I believed your security people had implemented Gemini without your approval. You don't seem the type to put children in harm's way."  
  
"I'm not," Victor insisted. "There are some lines I will not cross."  
  
"That's what I thought."  
  
Robert looked around at Victor's office. It was stately and elaborate, much like President Morgan's. Photos and paintings of great Davions from the past were on walls and shelves. Hundreds of years of history had presumably been made by the decisions made here. And now he would be contributing to that, in at least some way.  
  
"I didn't come just to share my decision with you, Prince Victor," Robert said, now speaking in English again. "I came because of the consequences of it."  
  
"Consequences?"  
  
"If Joshua's life is actually threatened on New Avalon by assassins enough that you would implement something like Gemini, then we have to look like we're doing what we must to secure his safety. And when you consider that NAIS is no longer directly responsible for his care…" Robert stopped speaking for a moment to let Victor process what he was saying. And what he was leading to.  
  
The look in Victor's blue eyes shifted, and in doing so told him that Victor understood completely. "I see," he said. "It does make sense, yes. It would also be a decent gesture to Thomas Marik…" Victor put his hands together on the desk. "Very well. I formally request, Captain Dale, that you take Joshua home, where his father can oversee the continuing treatment with your doctors. The _Aurora_ can get him there more quickly than we could, short of a command circuit that we currently do not have available."  
  
Robert nodded and grinned in reply. "I'd be honored, Prince Victor, to take charge of Joshua until he gets home."  
  
"Then I'll recall our MIIO personnel and inform Thomas. I doubt he'll have any objections."  
  
"He seems to appreciate what Leo is doing for Joshua," Robert agreed. He stood up. "Our diplomatic mission has already reached its natural conclusion as it is. I will have to alter our itinerary slightly, mind you."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Well, First Prince, Sian is closer to us than Atreus."  
  
Victor chuckled. "Ah. Well, I'm quite sure that Chancellor Sun-Tzu will be more than willing to let your change of plans pass. You are safeguarding his future brother-in-law, after all."  
  
"Hopefully he will. The Foreign Office will make our apologies clear enough, I'm sure."  
  
Robert stood from the chair and went to leave. But only just. A thought came to his mind, a gesture he could make to extend a trust he was certain would be held. He stopped and turned back to Victor. "You've shown quite a lot of trust in me, Prince Victor, regardless of your situation."  
  
"I have," Victor admitted. "But years at court have taught me how to judge men. I'm confident enough in that to believe I've judged you properly."  
  
"Thank you. But I want to reciprocate." Robert put his hands on the back of the chair. "How much have you read about the Multiverse, Prince Victor? About certain… abilities that various species, even other incarnations of Humanity, possess?"  
  
The look told Robert Victor had likely not read much on that issue. "Jerry said something about Commander Meridina lifting an NAIS stretcher without touching it. That goes with the rumors I've been hearing," Victor said. "Stories about the Gersallians having knights with special powers, or mind-readers called Betazoids from one of the other universes. An old species called the Asari is apparently made up entirely of women that can alter gravity with their minds."  
  
"It's biotics," Robert revealed. "From long-term persistent exposure to element zero, which allows them to generate and manipulate dark matter. Their entire species evolved with that exposure to have natural biotics. Other species of M4P2, including Humans, can be biotic, although they generally need specialized implants in their brains to properly conduct the dark matter. But I'm off-subject." Robert cleared his throat. "The Gersallian stories are true, and Jerry saw just a little of what they can do. They have an organization called the Order of Swenya. It's lasted for three thousand years and exists to train Gersallians with using a specific kind of… there's no good word in English or German to convey this meaning, so I'll go with 'life force' as a simplification. They call this special kind of life force _swevyra_ and believe some beings have a special form of it, a special form that binds them to the universe and lets them do… some special things."  
  
Victor gave him a look that seemed partly intrigued and partly bewildered.  
  
"To go on," Robert continued, "Commander Meridina is a part of the Order. She's a Knight of Swenya. The object you saw on her belt was a _lakesh_ , a memory-metal blade she carries to defend herself with."  
  
"Even from firearms?", Victor asked pointedly.  
  
"It's more effective than you think. Although…" Robert put his hands together on top of the chair for a moment before extending a hand. "I suppose seeing is believing."  
  
For a moment Victor didn't react. Not until his eyes registered the truth that, yes, the penholder on his desk was starting to float in mid-air. His eyes widened and his mouth hung slightly open in mute shock. He forced a hand to pass over and under the penholder and, against his expectations, there was nothing there. No invisible wire. No tingling energy field or anything immediately indicating exotic technology.  
  
Robert closed his eyes and focused. Victor took a sudden step back as his _entire desk_ now started to levitate. The top of the desk rose up to eye level for several seconds.  
  
And then it floated downward, gently reaching the ground again.  
  
" _Mein Gott_ ," Victor whispered. " _Mein Gott, was…_ "  
  
Robert opened his eyes again and settled his hands by his sides. It had taken quite a lot of effort to lift the desk in such a controlled fashion. But it had been the most convincing thing he could do without scaring Victor. "I discovered I had this… _swevyra_ about six months ago," Robert admitted. "Although I suspected it even earlier. My point is… it exists. I have it. Meridina is training me to control it." Robert put his hands together in front of him. "Aside from Admiral Maran and my command crew, you are the only person who I've shown this power to. Well… among those who didn't witness me fighting SS _Panzergrenadiers_ and stormtroopers with it. It's the greatest secret in my life."  
  
Victor nodded. "I… I see." A small smile came to his face, replacing his earlier confused, stunned look. "Mutual trust and respect, then, Captain?"  
  
"Yes, Prince," Robert replied.  
  
"I admit I feel a little honored that you deem me worthy to have this secret." Victor started to step around his desk and approach Robert. "I will keep it, of course. I won't tell another soul. Not even my closest advisors. Not unless you permit it."  
  
"Thank you," Robert answered. "For now I'd like to keep anyone else from knowing. If word got out, well, I don't think some of my superiors are quite ready to accept that I can do these things. There are… politics involved."  
  
"I can imagine."  
  
"Well." Robert put his hands together in front of him. "I'd better beam back up. We'll depart first thing in the morning."  
  
"Of course. I will have the formal request sent to your ship immediately. For appearance's sake."  
  
"And I'll send the reply right back."  
  
"Then…" Victor looked at him intently for a moment.  
  
And then he brought his hand up.  
  
"Good voyage to you, Captain."  
  
Robert looked at the hand for a moment and then accepted it. "Good luck and health to you, Prince. _Danke Schon_."  
  
" _Danke Schon_."  
  
  
  
  
Joshua awoke early that morning to find that his bodyguards had been replaced entirely by Commander Meridina's people. He was particularly delighted that one of them was one of the "birdmen".  
  
Leo looked over the blue-feathered Alakin, Ensign Murkap, and asked, "He's not being too eager with the questions, is he Ensign?"  
  
"No, Doctor," Murkap chirped. "He is being flattering."  
  
"Ah. Well, that's good." Leo turned back to Joshua. "I have something special to share with you." He walked up and applied a hypospray to Joshua to draw blood for more testing.  
  
Joshua looked up at him. "What's going on?"  
  
"Prince Victor and your father have asked us to bring you home," Leo explained. "We're leaving New Avalon in a couple of hours to head to Atreus."  
  
"Can I say goodbye to Doctor Harper?", Joshua asked.  
  
"Of course. I'll arrange the call immediately." Leo pulled the hypospray away and looked at the dark red fluid in it. He pulled the tubule loose and pocketed it in his white lab coat. "How are you feeling today, Joshua?"  
  
"It hurts a little," Joshua admitted. "I have a headache."  
  
"Hrm." Leo used his multidevice to call up the charts. "I see Doctor Singh gave you a mild painkiller about five hours ago." He looked at the biobed active scan results as they were then and now. Singh had undoubtedly noticed the heightened pain response in Joshua's battered CNS. The mild painkiller was the most reasonable thing she could have done. "You let us know if that headache gets worse, okay? Or if it changes in any way."  
  
"Yes, Doctor," Joshua promised. "Can I have some breakfast?"  
  
"Of course. We need to get you fed so your body heals." Leo smiled at him. "What would you like?"  
  
"Whatever Mister Hargert is making," Joshua asked. "I really liked what he gave me last night."  
  
"Well, I'll give the Lookout a call and see about getting some breakfast sent over to you," he promised.  
  
"Okay. And can I ask for something else?"  
  
"Well, sure. Ask away."  
  
"When we leave, can I be on the bridge?" Joshua put his hands together in his lap. "I didn't get to see New Avalon when I came here. I'd like to see it. And see us leave it."  
  
Leo considered the request. Joshua had done well in his tour of the ship, a trip to the bridge and back wouldn't hurt. "I'll talk to Captain Dale and Commander Andreys, okay? That's their decision."  
  
"Okay." Joshua reached over to the control beside his bed and used it to turn the main monitor on. The ship's computer picked up a broadcast coming from Avalon City. Cartoon characters appeared on the holo-screen. "I'll miss these shows," he confided to Leo. "I don't think they get them on Atreus."  
  
"Maybe not yet," Leo said. "But I think you'll find that things are going to change in the Inner Sphere, Joshua. And soon you'll be able to watch anything from anywhere in the Multiverse."  
  
The brightened expression on the boy's face should have illuminated the entire room for how sunny it was.  
  
  
  
Robert was at the desk in his personal quarters, eating a quiet breakfast, when Admiral Maran's call came in. The Gersallian admiral's expression was as reserved as ever, but yet didn't hide his quiet aura of confidence and command. " _Captain Dale, I received your report on the Joshua Marik situation. I'll be showing it to the President later._ "  
  
"Of course, sir. Are there any issues?"  
  
" _None for the moment._ " Maran nodded slightly. " _I am curious about this 'Gemini' operation you mentioned. They really replaced the boy with a double to fool assassins?_ "  
  
"I believe the intent was to sow confusion. You make things uncertain as to where the boy is, potential assassins can't be sure where to strike, so they never will. A more complicated version of the method used to secure President Morgan when traveling."  
  
" _Yes, I can see the logic. Well, it's irrelevant now. The President has approved your altered itinerary, you're due on Atreus in three days._ "  
  
"We'll be there," Robert pledged. "And Sian…?"  
  
" _The Foreign Office has already drafted the explanation. Emissary Ruiz will present it to Chancellor Liao within a day._ "  
  
"Understood. We'll make our way there after Atreus, then. Dale out."  
  
The call ended. A check of the time told Robert he was due out on the bridge.  
  
The officers on the bridge were at their stations, but all eyes were on Joshua. Nasri had guided his anti-grav chair up to a position beside Julia and behind Locarno. New Avalon, or at least the nearest curve of it, was displayed below. With a button press Jarod switched the main screen to showing what was directly below. The great sprawl of Avalon City was a splotch of gray on the planet's side.  
  
"You'll have a view of the whole planet as we pull away," Jarod explained to Joshua.  
  
"Speaking of pulling away," Robert began, "I think we're scheduled to depart now?" Julia had left his chair unoccupied while he reported to Maran, so he resumed it easily. Leo was to his other side in his usual observation chair.  
  
Locarno looked to his side. "You want to do the honors?", he asked Joshua.  
  
The boy's eyes lit up like tiny stars.  
  
Nasri helped Joshua get into Locarno's lap. Robert watched without saying anything, curious to see what the helmsman was up to. Locarno took Joshua's hands with his own and guided them to the necessary controls. "Okay, here we have impulse control. We're going to leave orbit by turning the ship away from the planet and increasing impulse power. Got it?"  
  
"Okay." There was excitement in the boy's voice while he let Locarno guide him to the necessary keys. On the screen the planet began to shift away from them. "What do I do next?"  
  
"You tell Captain Dale and Commander Andreys that we broke orbit," Locarno instructed. He looked to Jarod with a wide grin on his face and found Jarod had his own grin of amusement.  
  
"Captain Dale, Commander Andreys, we're breaking orbit," Joshua repeated obediently.  
  
Robert and Julia exchanged smiles. He motioned to her and Julia put a little formality into her voice when she said, "Well then, Ensign Marik, lay in a course for Atreus."  
  
"Ensign?" Joshua looked over at Locarno. "That's a rank, right?"  
  
"It is. She's just made you an acting officer," Locarno told him. "So…" Again Locarno guided Joshua's hands over the necessary controls, this time further over on the warp navigation portion of his board. Locarno and the navigation systems did all of the necessary calculations and Joshua got to press the keys. "Say 'Course laid in, ma'am'."  
  
"Course laid in, ma'am," Joshua repeated. He looked over at Jarod. "Are we far enough away from the planet to see it?"  
  
Jarod nodded. He glanced back enough to get a nod of approval from Robert before changing the viewer again. New Avalon was now completely visible on the viewscreen. "There you go," said Jarod.  
  
Joshua stared for several moments. "I made friends there," he finally said. "I'm going to miss them."  
  
"You can call, I'm sure."  
  
"Would it be appropriate? Do you think my father will think so?"  
  
Robert smiled at that. "I'm quite sure he will, Joshua."  
  
"I hope so," Joshua said. "And I hope we'll continue to be friends with them. I like the people in the Commonwealth. They're nice."  
  
"They certainly seemed that way to me," Julia remarked. "But right now, it's time to get you home. Engage warp drive, Mister Marik, Warp 9.2."  
  
Again Locarno guided the boy's hands over his board. As he brought Joshua's hand over the final activation key, he said to him, "Engaging now."  
  
"Engaging now, ma'am," Joshua dutifully repeated, still smiling. His hand pressed against the control surface.  
  
With a flash of light, the _Starship Aurora_ departed the New Avalon system. Joshua watched as energy flickered on the viewscreen until it was completely replaced by streaks of light.  
  
"Congratulations on your first jump to warp speed, Joshua," Locarno said. With Nasri's help he set Joshua back in his chair.  
  
"How long until we get home?", Joshua asked.  
  
"It'll be a few days," Julia noted. "So, I believe Hargert has your lunch ready, Ensign. Let's get you down to the Lookout."  
  
"Okay. But…"  
  
"But?", Julia asked, inviting him to continue.  
  
"If I'm an Ensign now… doesn't that mean I get a uniform?" Joshua smiled widely.  
  
Julia crossed her arms. "Why, you clever little… Ensign."  
  
Caterina giggled over at Science.  
  
"Alright. Let's take you by and get you measured," Julia said. "Come on."  
  
  
  
  
A short time later the entire command crew were in the Lookout, relieved from the bridge by Lieutenant Jupap and their immediate backup officers. Sandwiches, stew, and lunch meats were laid out for everyone to partake in. Joshua remained the center of attention and, at the moment, he was barraging Barnes and Scotty with questions about the warp systems. As was promised, he was now in an Alliance uniform, with an ensign stripe on his collar and the burgundy red command track color serving as trim to the black main body of the uniform.   
  
Robert was content to let the others focus on the guest. He sat at a side table, watching the festivities and quietly enjoying his own lunch.  
  
Across from him, Angel took a seat. "So, looks like the kid's stealing the show."  
  
"Let him have it." Robert looked over and grinned, watching Cat get Joshua's attention with a simulation of an interuniversal jump point coming from her multidevice. "The poor kid more than earned it."  
  
"So what happened? We're suddenly ferrying the kid home?" Angel started scooping stew with her spoon. "I mean, it seems sort of sudden."  
  
"It's something that came up," Robert said.  
  
Angel gave him a "you can't fool me" look. "If you can't talk about it, that's fine. I'm just… making conversation."  
  
Robert brought a hand up. "No, it's fine. It's… Prince Victor and I discussed the matter. It makes sense for Joshua to go home now."  
  
"If you say so," Angel remarked. "But I know there's more to it than that."  
  
Robert chuckled. "Well, I've always had a hard time hiding things from you. Let's just say… I've come to realize that Prince Victor and I are kindred spirits. And we had a candid conversation about the situation."  
  
"Ah." Angel nodded. She gave him the face she usually did when she knew he was being coy, that sort of restrained indulgence that expected repayment for her courtesy in not punching him for being annoying.  
  
"It's a shame, actually," Robert said. "I had been considering taking you for dinner in Avalon City."  
  
"Ah, well. There's still four more Inner Sphere capital worlds to visit, right?"  
  
"Four more Great House capitals," Robert corrected. "Depending on what's going on, Maran might have us go to St. Ives and Orestes."  
  
"You know…" Angel gave him a thoughtful look. "Has anyone mentioned Earth yet? Who rules Earth in this universe?"  
  
"Some organization called ComStar, going by Willoughby's reports." Robert picked up a slice of cold lunch turkey. "They decided to send the _Atlantis_ to Earth to open contact. We can't do everything, after all."  
  
"Sometimes it feels like they want us to," Angel mumbled. " _Atlantis_... that's another of the _Discovery_ ships, right?"  
  
"It is."  
  
"I wonder when we'll get more ships like that in the fleet," she pondered. "I mean, we're at war, we need ships with even some of the Darglan technology built in. And the _Discovery_ is more like a Starfleet ship than an Alliance ship. I mean, I know we have that whole Starfleet 'multi-mission' stuff too, but we're at least a good combat ship."  
  
"They'll get around to it," Robert assured her. "The whole point of the _Discovery_ -class ships was to get our builders some know-how on building the Darglan-tech ships." The thought that occurred to him was that they were wasting time talking about this stuff. "You know, this isn't our usual conversation material."  
  
"Well, I can only make so many references to other things." Angel smiled thinly at him. "And we know that any discussion about our lives will inevitably result in bringing up your swervy-whatever stuff."  
  
"My _swev… sweev_...." Robert sighed. "Don't, I'll get it," he added, noticing Angel's look. " _Swevyra_ , there." He shook his head. "How did Zack get such a handle on it? I'm the one training for this stuff."  
  
"It beats me."  
  
  
  
  
  
The first day out from New Avalon was over. Leo was due to get some sleep soon but wanted to check up on his patient. Joshua was in the iso-unit and sitting up in his bed, clad in his blue medbay gown. A nearby hanger rack now held his newly-issued honorary Alliance Stellar Navy uniform.  
  
Joshua was smiling and speaking to a figure on the room's monitor. Leo turned and saw that it was Thomas, his father. The scar-faced man had a gentle expression, undoubtedly having listened to his son's joyful descriptions of the day's events.  
  
"Hello Doctor Leo," Joshua said, looking to Leo. "Do you need more blood?"  
  
"No," Leo answered. "I've got enough for today." Leo looked to the monitor. "Sir."  
  
" _Doctor_." Thomas nodded. " _Do you have any updates on Joshua's condition?_ "  
  
"Nothing of particular note for the moment," Leo explained. "Joshua's headaches are consistent with the neurological damage from the blast cells, that is, the leukemia cells, that filtered into his central nervous system. My staff and I are keeping a constant watch on his vitals to make sure nothing severe happens. The big issue, as always, is that Joshua's body needs to recover enough so we can begin the bone marrow transplant."  
  
" _Do you know when that will be ready?_ "  
  
"Within a day or two of our arrival over your world, sir," Leo answered. "Give or take a day in either direction."  
  
" _I see. Thank you, Doctor, for your efforts on the behalf of my son._ " Thomas looked to Joshua. " _I will see you soon, Joshua. Your mother is awaiting this as eagerly as I am._ "  
  
"I love you, Father," Joshua said. He sounded happier than he had in a long time.  
  
" _I love you too, son. Good night and sleep well._ " Thomas reached for something off-screen and disappeared from the screen.  
  
Joshua laid back into his bed. He looked at Leo and frowned a little. "My headache's really bad, Doctor Leo."  
  
Leo looked at the biobed readings and, to make sure of things, ran his scanner over Joshua's temple and around his head. "Hrm. You're showing no change from earlier."  
  
"Then why does it hurt so bad?", Joshua protested.  
  
"Your nerves are still damaged from your sickness. It's going to take time to heal them, Joshua." Leo gave him a pat on the shoulder. "There are some medications I simply can't give you for the pain. Not in your condition. And the ones I can give you're already dosed up on. I'm sorry." Leo put his hands on his head. "Nothing abnormal."  
  
Joshua nodded. "I understand."  
  
"Do the headaches go away or stay?"  
  
"They stop. Then they start again."  
  
"Alright." Leo began consulting his multidevice and a list of possible treatments. Painkillers were out of the question. So were other medications that might further alter his chemical state. Still… "I can give you a slight sleep aid," he said. "Hopefully that will let you sleep. I'll be right back."  
  
"Okay." Joshua seemed to force a grin to his face. "Thank you, Doctor Leo. I still feel a lot better because of you."  
  
"You're welcome, Joshua. I'll be right back."  
  
By the time he returned, Joshua had fallen asleep. Leo smiled thinly at the boy, checked his vitals again, and left him to his much-needed rest.  
  
  
  
  
Robert was about to retire for the evening when there was a chime at his door. He went to it and opened it manually, knowing it couldn't be Angel (he'd programmed his door to let her in automatically).  
  
Jarod was standing in the doorway. "Robert, can we talk?"  
  
"Sure." He let Jarod into his room and closed it behind him. "What's on your mind?"  
  
Jarod turned and faced him directly. "I've read the report you gave on the Commonwealth's use of a double for Joshua. And I think you've gotten it wrong."  
  
Robert remained quiet for a moment. "Oh?"  
  
"This was more than just a security measure," Jarod insisted. "The personnel transfers of oncologists, the effort it would have taken to make such a convincing double of Joshua, this all screams of a long-term intelligence operation. The costs of doing it just to confuse potential assassins doesn't fit. There had to be something more going on."  
  
"I see." Robert got into his seat. "I understand your concern. I'm just not sure why…"  
  
"...because you didn't even consult me before filing this," Jarod pointed out. There was some heat in his voice. "You didn't consult any of us. You didn't ask questions."  
  
For a moment he remained silent. This was slightly out of the ordinary for Jarod. But then again… what was ordinary for a man who could slip in and out of identities almost at will? For someone who could seamlessly fit into any occupation he observed? "And you're upset with me for this?"  
  
"I wasn't at first. Not until I saw the transporter logs." Jarod looked at him intently. "After you had your talk with Victor up here, you beamed down to New Avalon later that night. And you came back and filed this report without giving me or Julia one indication of it. I want to know why."  
  
For a moment Robert considered how to react. But after that moment, he knew there was only one appropriate way to do so if he wanted to keep Jarod's respect and trust. And he did. Robert valued the man, older in age but in many ways younger in mindset, and he had the example of 33LA to remind him of what could happen if he didn't give his people, his friends, the trust they deserved.  
  
"Victor admitted to me the real reason," Robert said. "And after consideration using my… gifts… I realized that we'll all be better off if I trusted him."  
  
"Just like that?"  
  
"He made a mistake. Out of fear. Pressure." Robert set his hand on his forehead and rested his head on the desk. "I know what that's like. And I believe he's learned his lesson from it. I think we'll all be better off if we don't get alienated from the Commonwealth."  
  
"So you're just willing to trust Prince Victor?"  
  
"I am."  
  
"And what if you're wrong? What if you're trusting a terrible person?  
  
"Then…" Robert gazed back into his eyes. "You and the others get to say 'I told you so' a lot and remind me I'm an idiot."  
  
Jarod considered his answer for several moments. Robert was relieved to see a grin slowly cross his face. "I'll remember that," he said.  
  
"Of course you will." Robert leaned over the table and looked Jarod in the eye. "I trust you and your judgement, Jarod. I always have. I want you to know that."  
  
Jarod nodded in reply. "Thank you. And, present appearances to the contrary, I do trust your decisions in the end. You've proven that more often than not, you make good ones."  
  
"Thank you." Robert stood. "Is there anything else?"  
  
"No. See you tomorrow?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Jarod left Robert's quarters and, presumably, headed off toward his own. Robert let out a sigh at the situation, and how much he regretted having ignored Jarod's input as he had.  
  
A glimmer of doubt came to him. What if he was actually wrong? What if he was being so empathetic toward Victor that he was ignoring signs that Victor was just another feudalist warlord, the kind produced by the social systems the Inner Sphere had chosen to put into place?  
  
No. No, he wasn't wrong. Robert was sure of it, as sure as he could be of anything. He had to remember what Meridina had told him. Doubt, in terms of these abilities, was the enemy more often that not. He couldn't let his doubt cloud his judgement. Not like he had before.  
  
With no sign of Angel yet, indicating she had likely decided to stay in her own quarters for the evening, Robert changed into bedclothes and slipped into his bed.  
  
  
  
  
Everyone had their own preferred level of light for sleep. Some wanted no light at all. They rested best in pitch blackness. Others wanted a bit of light, yet others were perfectly capable of normal light conditions being present when they slept.  
  
Leo himself preferred a dimmed light, and his quarters were suitably dimmed so that, from his bed, he could only just make out the far shelving where he kept pictures of his family and friends. In his living area were more pictures, as well as his framed doctorate - issued by the University of New Columbia in L2M1 in the year before the Alliance's founding - and other little mementos. The furnishings were standard replicated furnishings, nothing fancy, and his work desk for checking medical logs in the morning while still waking up.  
  
It was this dimmed light environment that Leo woke up to when he heard the persistent tone from his multidevice. His stomach started to twist. This was not a normal call. He reached over and pressed it.  
  
" _Singh here_." Through his groggy, sleep-filled mind, Leo remembered that Doctor Singh was taking the overnight. Her voice sounded strained. " _Doctor, we need you in the medbay, stat._ "  
  
With increasing horror threatening to choke him, Leo asked the obvious question. "Is it Joshua?"  
  
" _Yes_."  
  
"I'm on my way."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The peace of the Inner Sphere is in Leo's hands when he is asked to save the life of a terminally-ill prince.

Leo had only thrown on his lab coat while rushing out the door of his quarters. He arrived in the medbay at a run and went straight by the immediate treatment biobeds, on his way to the iso-unit. Meridina's security people waved him in without a word.

Doctor Singh and several nurses were already present. Singh was busy applying a dose of something. "30ccs of oxylin," she explained in her accented English. Her complexion was a dark bronze, the kind expected for someone from the Punjab, or from the colony world New Punjab in her case.

Leo immediately went to the bed scanners. "Brain hemorrhage," he said. "Looks like the parietal lobe."

"Indications of one in the anterior as well," Singh added.

"Dammit." A burst blood vessel and internal bleeding was always a danger with more advanced leukemia patients. Treating the blood vessels had been part of his regimen, but it took time for those treatments to repair damaged blood vessels without invasive procedures.

"Doctor, I have ordered the OR prepped. Lumenaram is already scrubbing down to go in and plant shunts."

Leo frowned. Brain surgery, any surgery, was risky with Joshua. Unfortunately, so was letting his blood vessels continue to pour blood into his brain. "I'll go scrub down immediately and join him."

 

Robert was roused from his sleep by the call. After getting ready he rushed to the medbay with Julia meeting him at the lift. As they stepped off of it she ceased speaking to the Gamma Shift crew on the bridge. "We're tied into Atreus," she said once the call was over.

Robert nodded stiffly. "So Captain-General Marik and his doctors can watch and second-guess Leo?"

"Maybe, maybe not, Rob. But let's be honest, this looks bad if we're not transparent about it."

"Yeah." Robert shook his head. "I just can't believe it. Things seemed to be going so well."

"Leo's doing his best. But when you think about how sick Joshua actually is…" Julia shook her head. "I'm not sure any doctor could bring him back. Even our medical technology has its limits."

They made it to the medbay and, upon a quick search, found Leo finishing his surgery preparation. He gave them a look and shook his head. "It's bad," he said. "Joshua's got two blood vessels that are hemorrhaging into his brain, and we've found a third ready to start bleeding into his chest."

"What can you do about it?", Robert asked.

"We're going to use the surgical transporters to implant shunts and to take out the blood already present. But if more vessels give way…" Leo shook his head. Robert and Julia could see the dark look in his eyes. "I can't lie to myself. I don't know if I can save him. I was so sure I could, that I could bring him back from the brink, but if this continues…"

"Is there any way to strengthen his blood vessels?", Julia asked.

"Not in the short term. We've already been giving him treatments to do just that, but they take time. Weeks. If his cardiovascular system is that close to failure, we may not have that much time." Leo gave them one last intent look before stepping away. "Singh and Lumenaram should be ready. I've got to get in there."

"Of course." A frown creased Julia's lips. Her expression was full of concern. "Good luck, Leo."

He nodded back to them. There was no mistaking the grimness of his expression. "Thank you." He went through the opposite door to the airlock of the OR.

With nothing left to do, Robert and Julia found their way to the viewing gallery, to sit, watch… and hope.

 

Lumenaram, as the most experienced physician in terms of operations inside the brain, was taking the lead on that part of the operation. He was operating the transporter-based systems that allowed surgery without cutting open the body, the only thing that made this surgery feasible without killing Joshua. Singh was operating the secondary systems, meant for dealing with issues of bloodflow through both transporters and forcefields projected into the body, allowing the shunt to be placed safely.

Leo was taking up the third role of the surgery, doing what he could to shore up Joshua's system and ensuring his blood levels stayed within safe limits. If another vessel ruptured anywhere in Joshua's body, Leo would take over another system to begin dealing with that problem.

He tried not to think of the situation. He had to focus solely on the patient, on the immediate needs of his patience's survival.

Joshua's vitals remained solid, for the moment. His blood count was still on the low side. That couldn't be fixed until Joshua had a bone marrow transplant. And the bone marrow wasn't ready for implant yet. It needed more time to function.

"First shunt in place," Lumenaram stated. "I am moving to insert the second. Doctor…"

Singh was already manipulating her own controls. "The blood in the area has been cleared. I have sealed the damaged vessel."

"I will not be long," Lumenaram promised.

Leo watched his own monitors carefully. Lumenaram was certainly doing as well as could be expected. "Vitals are remaining stable," Leo said.

"Second shunt prepared. Inserting."

Tense seconds passed. Lumenaram had his head dabbed by a sponge in the hands of one of the nurses, an Alakin male. Singh was focused on her secondary work.

Leo felt sweat trickling into his eyes. Frustration and tension made his muscles stiffen, as if to begin fight-or-flight reactions. They were close now. If things held… well, they'd be beyond this crisis. And then he would consult with the other physicians about ways to hasten the recovery of the blood vessel network in Joshua's body to prevent another recurrence of this problem.

A sponge ran over his forehead. He looked over. Nasri was in operating garb. Her dark eyes met his and she nodded.

He felt incredibly thankful for that. Nasri was his best, and one of his first medical trainees back in the Facility days. It always seemed right to have her at his side, doing this work.

The second shunt was almost complete. They were about done. Relief was starting to seep in past Leo's mental defenses. The crisis was over, it had to be over, it…

Red light flooded his monitor. Oh no. "Hemorrhage in left lung," he declared. "I'm getting it."

"Adjusting over." Singh shifted her equipment to be across from Leo, on the other side of the OR table. "I'm…"

Another red light appeared. "Another vessel, left lung. Dammit." Leo was still working on the first break.

"His entire cardiovascular system is starting to fail," Lumenaram stated.

Singh's hands were moving over her controls. "I'm working on it..."

 

The viewing gallery built into the medbay OR was now at capacity. Robert and Julia had said nothing as the other command staff officers came and joined them. Now they noticed Hargert walking in from the side. He looked down into the gallery with his eyes lowered. "Poor boy," he muttered in his native German.

Robert nodded in immediate agreement. Was it all for nothing?, he wondered. All of the issues with the Commonwealth's double plan, or the security for Joshua, was it all just to lead up to this?

"C'mon lad," he heard Scotty urge. "Ye can dae it."

Looking over the others, he saw Jarod's expression was the most grim. "Jarod?", he asked.

"I was afraid of this," he said. "We were too late. His condition was too far advanced."

"It is not over yet," Meridina murmured in reply. "Have hope."

"Can't you do something about this?', Robert asked. "Given what you've shown me…''

"My healing powers are limited, Robert," Meridina answered. "I can mend bones. With effort I can try and restrain some of the bleeding. But I did not train enough to mend a body like this. Even the best healers in my Order wouldn't be as capable as your technology."

"I was hoping there was a way you could help him strengthen him."

"I wish there was," Meridina admitted. "But it is not within my power. I can do no more than the rest of you."

Robert nodded. He looked back out into the OR and thought You can do this. You can save him.

 

You can save him, Leo was thinking. And he wanted to.

The lungs were no longer flooding with blood. Joshua's breathing had returned to normal.

Unfortunately, it looked like the stress on his system had finally become too much. "Nerve signals are down across the board," Singh said. "The degradation of the CNS is limiting his body's ability to maintain itself."

"Just make sure his brain is still functioning." Leo looked toward the backup nurse assistant, a Gamma Shift nurse who was a Dorei, a blue-skinned teal-spotted woman named Genira. "Prep the cryostasis unit."

Singh looked at Leo with a disbelieving expression. "Doctor, cryostasis?"

"As our last option," Leo said. "In case we can't save him now."

"But he can't go into cryostasis in his current condition!", Singh protested. "Not with his body so weak! He would never survive restoration!"

"Then we need to make sure he survives now, but I am giving him every chance I can…" Leo's attention to the display saw the next item to draw him back. The aorta in Joshua's heart was now seeping blood. "Aortic valve failure, he's hemorrhaging again!"

They continued to work. To fight. Leo and his doctors knew that the gallery was full of people who were giving their hopes and prayers for them to succeed. And they wanted to. Leo was intent on it.

Each stopped hemorrhage led to a new one, however. One after the other. Transfusions were called in to replenish the lost blood in Joshua's body, but that only served to cause more. His body was simply too weak and damaged from the leukemia and the methods used to try and destroy it. As the minutes turned into hours, as the next day's shift began to come on duty, it was increasingly clear that every method they tried, every treatment Leo came up with, was not working.

Finally the warning tones came. Leo looked up from where he was trying to heal the latest breach in Joshua's cardiovascular system to see that his body was simply shutting down. His brain activity was starting to cease. The oxylin alone couldn't keep it going, not without the necessary blood flow that all of the internal breaks were siphoning away. "Ready cortical stimulators!", Leo called out.

Lumenaram was already on the job. The Gersallian physician busied himself with attaching the necessary pieces to Joshua's forehead. "Setting voltages… ready," he said in the lilting accent most Gersallians had when speaking English.

"Now."

There was a jolt of energy into Joshua's dying brain.

The EEGs showed a brief surge of activity. Hope swelled into Leo. For all of two seconds, as the surge quickly gave way to a flat line. He snarled and barked, "Again!"

Another jolt.

Nothing this time.

"The heart is stopping," Singh reported cooly. Her reserve was not being shaken by their clear failure.

"Again!"

Nothing.

"It's not working," Lumenaram said. "I'm sorry, Doctor."

"His body's too weak and too damaged. Call it."

"No. Again."

Lumenaram went to protest, but for the moment did not. At the press of his finger another jolt of energy went into Joshua's brain, trying to kickstart it back into operation.

Again, there was no response.

"The neurological damage he suffered from the blast cells is interfering with the cortical stimulator," Lumenaram reported. "It's not going to work."

"Again!", Leo insisted.

"Doctor, it's not going to work," the Gersallian repeated. "I'm sorry, but he's…"

Leo went around to the head of the table and smashed his finger into the stimulator control. Again it activated, and again it sent a jolt of specially-tuned electricity into Joshua's brain, trying to kickstart the neurotransmitters that had stopped functioning.

And again, there was no response.

"No," Leo insisted. "No. No, I am not…"

It was Singh who declared, "He is gone, Doctor Gillam!"

Leo looked at her with a face twisted in anguish and anger. "Where's the cryostasis chamber?! We still…"

"It's too late for stasis!", she retorted. "He is too weak to survive the revival process, and his brain has been shut down for too long. The oxylin won't work anymore, and you know this!" Singh leaned over the table and glared at him. Her dark eyes were locked onto his. "You know this, Doctor. Call it."

Leo's mouth quivered. He wiped at his face with his left hand. It looked for a moment like he would simply explode in a frenzy of movement.

"Computer, this is Doctor Gillam, senior attending physician," Leo began. His voice was heavy with frustration and disappointment. "Log time of death for patient Joshua Marik."

"Time logged: 0954 hours, 18th of March," the Aurora's computer replied.

Leo looked at Joshua. He looked peaceful and content. The initial strokes had taken him in his sleep so he had never felt his brain begin to go haywire from the pressure of the blood it was drowning in. He hadn't suffered.

Warm tears were pouring down Leo's cheeks, leaving streaks mingled with the sweat drawn from his failed efforts.

"I'm sorry," he managed to say. "I'm so sorry, Joshua."

 

The state visit protocols had been repeated. But there was little of the zing and breathless anticipation that had been anticipated. Captain-General Marik stepped down from his shuttle to the strains of the League anthem and a Marine honor guard and approached Robert and his officers. "Your Highness, welcome aboard the Aurora," Robert said, standing at attention. "It's an honor to have you."

The much older statesman nodded. His scarred face made Robert think of how much this poor man had already suffered in his life. "Thank you for your kind greetings, Captain."

Robert opted to skip introductions for the moment. "You're welcome, sir." He indicated a casket laid upon a table wheeled in. "Your son is ready to go home. Although I had hoped he would do so under happier circumstances."

"Yes." Thomas Marik looked to the others. "These are your command officers?"

"Yes." Robert went through the introductions quickly. Thomas was most interested in Leo, whom he shook hands with.

Leo returned the handshake with a pained look in his eyes.

With Robert's introductions done, Thomas introduced his wife Sophina and the rest of his entourage.

After they were done with the formalities, Thomas went over to the casket and opened it. Joshua lay in restful repose, hands on his chest. Thomas reached down and touched the cold skin of his child. There were tears in his eyes.

"On behalf of myself, my officers and crew, and the Allied Systems, we offer you our deepest condolences, sir," Robert continued. "Joshua was well liked by our crew."

"And he liked you," Thomas answered. His voice was calm. Aside from the tears his expression was quiet and neutral, unlike the clear grief on his wife's face. "My son's final messages to me overflowed with his enthusiasm for your people. He spoke of the kindnesses you had shown him and his wonder at your Alliance. As Captain-General of the Free Worlds League, I thank you for your efforts on behalf of the League's heir. As a father, I cannot thank you enough for making him happy in his final days."

"We're thankful for the chance to have known your son," was all Robert could say.

 

With Joshua's remains officially turned over to the League, Thomas and Sophina were given a tour of the Aurora much like Victor's and Yvonne's, or more to the point, their son's. Their grief made the occasion more somber and subdued the enthusiasm of all. Wherever they went, the department officers extended their own condolences to them for Joshua.

Hargert was not to be outdone on that. He offered them holo-images of Joshua during his time on the ship and his meals in the Lookout, laughing and grinning in the Alliance uniform he'd been given. Julia showed them the memorial wall where the Aurora crew listed their lost comrades. It was already a long list, fifteen names in a column and several columns and taking up half of the wall space beside the port-side Lookout entrance.

There was a new listing in the seventh and newest column: Marik, Joshua. Ens. (Hon. Act.)

Thomas looked to Julia and nodded with appreciation.

With their tour mostly over, it was only then that he asked something of the crew.

"Where is Doctor Gillam?"

 

Leo didn't answer the door chime right away. He remained seated in his chair, looking into nothing with the darkness of his quarters untouched by the sunlight reflecting off Atreus and touching the other side of the Aurora. Alone in his thoughts and his pain.

He'd known that saving Joshua was not going to be a certain thing. Not with his condition so painfully advanced. He'd known. It shouldn't be this painful.

But it was. It was more painful than he imagined it would be.

He looked down at the item in his hand. He'd absent-mindedly scooped it up while going through his room. There was no light for the medallion to glint in, but he knew its inscription already. He could still remember Daniel Jackson explaining what the hieroglyphics meant.

He tossed the medallion toward the door. It clunked against it and hit the ground.

The worst thing was Thomas Marik's reaction. His quiet, resolved acceptance of his son's death. It only made Leo more aware of how much it hurt him, and it shamed him by how well a grieving father was taking it over him.

There was a knock at the door. When Leo didn't answer it came again, followed by the door chime.

He wanted to scream at his caller to go away. Julia or Nasri, he thought. Coming to be mother hens. They can't just leave me alone… He stood up and called out, "Alright, come in! Computer, raise light level to standard."

The lights in the room reached standard illumination as the door slid open. "I know what…"

Leo stopped in mid-sentence as Captain-General Marik entered.

Thomas Marik looked about quietly. His eyes spied the medallion on the floor. He bent over and picked it up. "I wished to speak with you," he said. "Privately."

Leo swallowed and met the older man's eyes. "Computer, secure door," he said. The door slid close behind Thomas.

Thomas was busy looking over his medallion. "Egyptian hieroglyphics. Interesting. Where did you get this?"

"The villagers of Abydos," he answered. "I saved their chief's daughter from an alien parasite. He gave that to me as a reward."

"Do you know what it says?"

"According to someone who knows, one side refers to me as a great healer, and the other declares I can drive out demons." Leo put his hands behind his back. "I'm sorry about your son. I… I'm sorry."

"I know." Thomas set the medallion down upon the nearby table. "I was watching your attempt to save him. My physicians may not be familiar with your technology, but they could recognize what you were trying to do."

"And any mistakes I made that I can't think of, I imagine."

Thomas shook his head gently. "On the contrary. They were all deeply impressed with your efforts to save my son. They would have given up on him before you did."

Leo didn't answer that.

"We will all mourn Joshua in our own way," Thomas continued. "I am grateful for what you've done for him, and for us. My son died happy because of your efforts."

There was silence. They continued to face each other.

"I've never lost a child before," Leo finally said, breaking the silence. "My mind knew it was still weighted against him living, but my heart refused to accept it. I couldn't lose a child. Not to anything."

"I understand." Thomas set his hand on the stand beside him. "Failure, a new and raw failure like that, can burn like few others."

"A month. Two, maybe. If we had just come sooner, I could have saved him."

Thomas said nothing, not immediately. He walked further into the room. When he directed his eyes at Leo again, it was with compassionate understanding. "My physicians did express one concern to me," he revealed.

"Yes?"

"That a promising young doctor like you might be broken by losing Joshua." Thomas shook his head. "I've lost my son. Please, don't let more loss affect us all."

Warm tears were pouring down Leo's face. "I think I would find it easier if you were angry with me," he confessed.

"I imagine so." A small smile stretched over the man's scarred face. "I can see that, yes. But I cannot. You brought my son a chance to experience joy and wonder in his final days, and when the time came you fought for his life with everything you had. I could not expect more."

"I can't imagine what he would have accomplished…"

"He would have done much, that I'm sure. He would have built bridges between our people and the Federated Commonwealth, and between the League and the Alliance," said Thomas. "His promise is gone. Please don't let his loss destroy the promise in your future as well. Remember that lives aren't measured solely by successes, but by failures as well, and how we let each change us."

Leo nodded. "Yeah."

There was more silence. Thomas, seeing Leo had nothing to say, found he had nothing to say either. He went back to the door.

"Captain-General… sir."

Thomas turned back as Leo looked over to him.

"Thank you," Leo said. "I just need time to process this, but I'll bounce back from it. My friends will help, just as you have. I'm honored you came to visit me."

The reply was a nod, for words were not needed.

After the Marik leader left, Leo went over to the medallion that Kasuf and the Abydonians had given him. He gently picked it up and put it back in its place on his shelf.

Time. He needed time to come to accept this. But he expected he would, in the end.

It would always hurt, though.

 

Tag

 

Ship's Log: 21 March 2642; ASV Aurora. Captain Robert Dale recording. Our negotiations with the Free Worlds League are already showing promise. Emissary Janliran and I have already laid the framework for providing new technology to the League in exchange for support.

Captain-General Marik, impressed by the threat of the Nazi Empire and clearly disgusted by its existence, has already pledged the service of one of his elite units, the Knights of the Inner Sphere, to the Alliance cause. Emissary Willoughby has signaled from New Avalon that Prince Victor has already persuaded some of his commanders that they can safely adopt a similar course of action. I can safely say our mission to the Inner Sphere is, for the moment, successful.

I must also log that the crew is still mourning Joshua Marik's death. During his time with us, his courage in the face of his affliction and his curious and friendly demeanor impressed everyone. His memory will be fondly remembered.

 

After a day with Emissary Janliran discussing matters with Thomas Marik and his Cabinet, Robert was happy to return home to his quarters. Angel was waiting for him, wearing a green sleeveless blouse that showed off her muscled arms and a lime green pair of sweatpants. She was laid out on the couch of his living area and smiling at him. "How was the diplomacy?"

"Terrific," Robert answered. "But tiring."

"This is why I prefer my job," Angel replied. She waved her feet in the air and wiggled her bare toes. "I get to kick asses and blow stuff up. No diplomacy."

"You always have been the violent one," Robert teased her.

"I can negotiate, if I have to," Angel continued. She smirked. "Aggressively."

He smirked back. "Well, now that…"

A tone sounded from his multidevice. Jupap chirped, "Bridge to Captain Dale."

He sighed and pressed the comm key on it. "Dale here."

"We have an incoming subspace communication from New Avalon. They wish to speak with you."

"Alright. Put it through here." Robert went to his desk and keyed the system to accept the call. His screen activated and displayed an image of Prince Victor. "Guten Abend, Prinz Victor," he stated. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

A wan smile crossed the other man's face. "I heard about Joshua. Doctor Harper and a number of his old caretakers are already sending letters of condolence."

"Leo came close," Robert sighed.

"So I heard. I've already extended my own condolences to Thomas Marik. He's thanked me for everything NAIS did for Joshua over the years." Victor shook his head. "Maybe if I had acted more quickly, if I had been more forward with Emissary Willoughby on the situation, Joshua might still be alive."

"Maybe or maybe not. You did the right thing by bringing us in, at least. Joshua got to live a little before he passed on."

"Right." Victor put his hands together on the desk and allowed himself a brief smile. "The Captain-General hasn't wasted any time in announcing his reaction to your S4W8 universe."

"No he hasn't."

"The Knights of the Inner Sphere. They're good people." Victor nodded. "Of course, I can't allow Thomas to get too far ahead of me in helping the Allied Systems, not when they stand to change the Inner Sphere forever. Thomas' announcement has quieted some of the resistance I've had. I've already let Admiral Maran know that your people can expect the 3rd Davion Guards and the Davion Assault Guards to be ready for service with your forces by the end of the month. Any further contributions will, of course, depend on any developments with the Clans."

"That's good news." Robert considered the contribution. The Inner Sphere didn't have ships to provide - not yet anyway - but ground troops could be useful. Especially ground troops backed by massive war machines. With theater shields and other Alliance support forces, any Inner Sphere troops could help hold worlds that their depleted fleets had to temporarily withdraw from. "And it's just the beginning."

"That it is. Good luck out there, Captain."

"Thank you, Victor."

The call ended. Robert leaned back in his chair for a moment. He could sense Angel had left the couch and gone toward the bedroom. It wasn't hard to guess what she was thinking. He stood up and turned that way. At the door to the bedroom Angel intercepted him and put her arms around him. "Sorry for the wait."

"Hrm." She kissed his neck. "No apologies. Come in."

Robert looked into her hazel eyes, burning with affection and passion, and felt the same coming from him. He put a hand on her head and brought her close, until their lips locked together into a strong kiss.

 

Julia finished her late meal in the Lookout and let out a small, contented sigh. The ship was running as smoothly as ever. The best performing members of the crew were getting to partake of some of the sights down on Atreus and morale had never been higher. Diplomatic missions are stressful for us, but the crew usually benefits from them.

Her eyes went to the memorial list on the wall. Barnes was looking at it intently. Curious, she stepped up to him. "Everything okay?", she asked.

"Huh?" He turned and faced her. "Oh. Yeah. Yeah, I guess." He shook his head. "I mean… as okay as they can be?" He tilted his head toward the list. "Everyone's okay with the kid being on the list, then?"

"I haven't gotten any complaints," Julia confirmed.

"Good." Barnes looked back to it. "Poor kid."

"Yeah."

They remained quiet for several moments. "I'm not the best officer, am I Julie?", Barnes asked, ending their silence.

Julia looked at him intently. She didn't often see such doubt in his light brown eyes, but it was there now. "There are times, yeah," she admitted. "When you get in your manic moods or you get bored and feel like you need to mouth off."

"Yep." He shook his head. "I'm trying, actually. I… I mean, I know what we're trying to do out here, and it's cool, I wanna do it… I just wonder sometimes if I can fit what you and Rob and Zack and the others have put together. I'm not serious enough for these things and..."

"Tom." Julia put a hand on his arm and smiled gently, drawing his attention. "Just because you're not the best officer material doesn't mean you don't fit in with us. You're talented in your field. You know this ship as good as Scotty does. We need you and we always will."

"Even when I'm being a smartass?"

Julia nodded. And then allowed her gentle smile to become an amused grin. "Sometimes especially when you're being a smartass. God knows I sometimes need someone to get me to lighten up. It just has to be in the right time and place, and official briefings aren't either of those things..."

Barnes cracked a grin at that. "You're always the serious one. And I'm never the serious one."

"I think Rob is the serious one," Julia corrected.

"No. Rob is the brooding one. He broods. He angsts at things." Barnes crossed his arms and assumed a slightly-depressed, withdrawn look that made Julia start chuckling at the resemblance. "'I made a horrible mistake and I started the war, oh woe is all of us'."

"Don't you dare do that in front of him," Julia insisted. "And I see Rob as more of the superhero thing, you know, heroic pose and going off to save the day?"

Barnes considered it. "That's the other side of his personality," he finally admitted. "And it's the cooler side if you ask me."

"You're not the one tearing your hair out dealing with him when he's like that," Julia protested.

"Yeah, yeah…"

"So if I'm the serious, you're the unserious, and Rob's the brooder…"

"Angel's the violent one." Barnes faked a very Angel-like snarl. "'I'm gonna kick your ass and break your bones, I know kung fu!' And as for Jarod..."

He listed them all, chuckling and laughing as he did the impersonations.

And Julia laughed through each and every one of them.


End file.
